, to occupy the
same section until his return from an excursion of ten thousand miles. A
select party of ladies and gentlemen came together at the same time in
the Fitchburg railroad station, most of whom were strangers to each
other, but who were united by the same purpose. The traveler lives,
eats, and sleeps in the vestibule train, while _en route_, in which he
first embarks, until his return to the starting-point, a dining-car,
with reading and writing rooms, also forming a part of the train. All
care regarding the routes to be followed, as to hotel accommodations
while stopping in large cities, side excursions, and the providing of
domestic necessities, are dismissed from his mind. He luxuriates in the
pleasure of seeing a strange and beautiful land, without a thought as to
the _modus operandi_, or the means by which detail is conquered. In
short, he dons Fortunatus's cap, and permits events to develop
themselves to his intense delight. Such was the author's experience on
the occasion concerning which these wayside views of Mexico were
written. It was a holiday journey, but it is hoped that a description of
it may impart to the general reader a portion of the pleasure and useful
information which the author realized from an excursion into Aztec Land,
full of novel and uninterrupted enjoyment.

M. M. B.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Locality and Political Divisions of Aztec Land.--Spanish
Historians.--Boundaries.--Climate.--Egyptian Resemblances.
--Products of the Country.--Antiquities.--Origin of Races.
--Early Civilization.--Pictorial Writings.--Aboriginal Money.
--Aztec Religious Sacrifices.--A Voluptuous Court.--Mexican
Independence.--European Civilization introduced by Cortez.--
Civil Wars.--The Maximilian Fiasco.--Revival of Mexican
Progress.--A Country facing on Two Oceans.--A Native Writer's
Statement.--Divorce of Church and State 1

CHAPTER II.

Remarkably Fertile Soil.--Valuable Native Woods.--Mexican Flora.--
Coffee and Tobacco.--Mineral Products.--Silver Mines.--Sugar
Lands.--Manufactories.--Cortez's Presents to Charles V.--Water
Power.--Coal Measures.--Railroads.--Historic Locality.--Social
Characteristics.--People divided into Castes.--Peonage.--
Radical Progress.--Education and the Priesthood.--A Threshing
Machine.--Social Etiquette.--Political Organization of the