G).]

* * * * *

NOTE.

The unique Knife figured at page 101 and two masks incrusted with a
similar mosaic work (of turquoise and obsidian) are in Mr. Christy's
collection; and a mask and head of similar workmanship are in the
collection at Copenhagen. These are the only known examples of this
advanced style of Aztec art.

The whole once belonged probably to one set, brought to Europe soon
after the Conquest of Mexico. The two at Copenhagen were obtained at a
convent in Rome; and, of the other three, two were for a long period in
a collection at Florence, and the other was obtained at Bruges, where
it was most probably brought by the Spaniards during their rule in the
Low Countries.

CHAPTER V.

MEXICO. GUADALUPE.

[Illustration: THE ROBES WORN BY THE WOMEN OF MEXICO; AND THE SERAPE
WORN BY THE MEN.]

While we were away at the Real del Monte, the news had reached Mexico
that Puebla had capitulated, and that the rebel leader had fled. The
victory was celebrated in the capital with the most triumphal entries,
harangues, bull-fights, and illuminations done to order. If you had a
house in one of the principal streets, the police would make you
illuminate it, whether you liked or not. The newspapers loudly
proclaimed the triumph of the constitutional principle, and the
inauguration of a reign of law and order that was never to cease.

As for the newspapers, indeed, one looked in vain in them for any free
expression of public opinion. They were all either suppressed, or
converted into the merest mouthpieces of the government. The telegraph
was under the strictest surveillance, and no messages were allowed to
be sent which the government did not consider favourable to their
interests; a precaution which rather defeated itself, as the people
soon ceased to believe any public news at all. In all these mean little
shifts, which we in England consider as the special property of
despotic governments, the authorities of the Mexican Republic showed
themselves great proficients.

We were left, therefore, to form what idea we could of the real state
of Mexican affairs, from the private information received by our
friends. Just for once it may be worth while to give a few details, not
because the people engaged were specially interesting, but because the
affair may serve to give an idea of the condition of the country.

President Comonfort, not a bad sort of man, as it seemed,