getable Market.--Flower Girls.--The
"Noche-Triste" Tree.--Ridiculous Signs.--Queer Titles.--Floral
Festival.

Guadalupe, the sacred Mecca of the Roman Catholics of Mexico, is reached
by a tramway of about two or three miles in length, running in a
northeasterly direction from the city. It appears that in the Aztec
period there was here a native shrine dedicated to some mythological
god, and as the foolish legend runs, a miracle caused this spot to be
changed to a Christian shrine. The story is told with great unction by
"true believers," but to a calm, unbiased mind it is too utterly
ridiculous for repetition. These church miracles were simply chronic
during the Spanish rule. "The religion of Mexico," says Wilson, "is a
religion of priestly miracles, and when the ordinary rules of evidence
are applied to them, they and the religion that rests upon them fall
together." Guadalupe forms a rough, irregular elevation some hundred
feet or more above the level of the surrounding plain. Beside the rude
stairway leading to the top of the hill, there is built a stone column,
in the shape of a ship's mast with the square sails set upon it. This is
said to have been a votive offering by some sailors who were threatened
with shipwreck at Vera Cruz. When in dire distress, the party referred
to vowed that if the Virgin of Guadalupe would save the lives of the
crew, they would bring the ship's mast to her shrine and set it up
there, as a perpetual memento of her protecting power. The mariners were
saved and kept their vow, bringing the mast upon their shoulders all the
way from Vera Cruz. Here they set it up and built around it a covering
of stone, and thus it stands to this day. It is between thirty and forty
feet high, and about twelve feet wide at the base, tapering upwards--a
most unsightly and incongruous monument. On the summit of the hill there
is a small chapel known as the Capilla del Cerrito, and two or three
near its base, one of which has a large dome covered with enameled
tiles. This is known as the Capilla del Pocito, and supports in its
cupola some of the harshest and most ear-piercing bells which we have
ever chanced to hear. This chapel covers a somewhat remarkable spring,
which is abundant and never failing in its supply, for whose waters
great and miraculous power is claimed. It manifestly contains a large
impregnation of iron, and is no doubt a good tonic, beyond which its
virtues are of course mythical. I