l. i. p. 144.
[22] _Colleccion de Leyes_, 1853, p. 184.
[23] _Lord Kingsborough_, vol. vi. p. 265.
[24] _A Year in Spain, by an American._
[25] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. i. p. 207.
CHAPTER XII.
Acapulco.--The Advantages of a Western Voyage to India.--The great
annual Fair of Acapulco.--The Village and Harbor of Acapulco.--The
War of Santa Anna and Alvarez.--The Retreat.--Traveling alone and
unarmed.--The Peregrino Pass.--Quiricua and Cretinism.--Chilpanzingo.--An
ill-clad Judge.--Iguala.--Alpayaca.--Cuarnavaca.
Let us now make a journey in another direction--from Acapulco northward
to the city of Mexico--the route that the East India trade used to
follow. But, first of all, let us discourse a little time about this
port of Acapulco, once so famous upon the South Seas. It was not
discovered when Cortez built, in Colima, the vessels that went to
search for a northwest passage; but when they had returned from their
fruitless search, they anchored in the mountain-girt harbor of
Acapulco. The discoveries of the celebrated navigator, Magellan, fixed
the commercial character and importance of this sea-port. He had sailed
through the straits that bear his name, and coasted northwardly as far
as the trades. From this port he bore away to the Spice Islands,
discovering on the voyage the Philippine Islands, where the city of
Manilla was founded. By this voyage he demonstrated that the advantages
of a route across the Pacific were so superior to a voyage around Cape
Horn, as to justify the expense of a land transit from Acapulco to Vera
Cruz, and reshipment to Spain. Now that the Panama Railroad is made,
this demonstration may prove advantageous to other nations.
ACAPULCO.
The practical advantage of this discovery was the establishment of the
annual Manilla galleon, in which was sent out 1,000,000 silver dollars
to purchase Oriental products for the consumption of Spain and all her
American colonies. In this galleon sailed the friars that went forth to
the spiritual conquest of India. In it sailed Spanish soldiers, who
followed hard after the priests, to add the temporal to the spiritual
subjugation of Oriental empires. To this harbor the galleon returned,
freighted with the rich merchandise of China, Japan, and the Spice
Islands. When the arrival of the galleon was announced, traders
hastened from every quarter of New Spain to attend the annual fair.
Little vessels from down the coas
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