excursion to tula.—an ancient city of the toltecs.—church of the time of cortez.—manners and customs of the toltecs.—toltec kings, courts, and knighthood.—ruins of the temple and palace.—journey to morelos.—interoceanic railway.—morelos and his services to mexico.—cuautla and its attractions.—terrible railway accident.—down the southern slope.—in tierra caliente.—visiting a sugar estate.—to yautepec and cuernavaca.—ride over the mountains.—situation of cuernavaca.—old church and palace of cortez.—a fortunate frenchman.—romantic incident in the capture of cuernavaca.
one of the volumes in which our young friends were interested during their stay in mexico was "the ancient cities of the new world," by m. charnay. the perusal of this book led them to wish to visit tula, which is famous for having been a city of the toltecs, and a flourishing place at the time of the conquest.
leaving the city of mexico at half-past seven o'clock one morning by the central railway, they reached tula at 9.40 a.m.; the distance is about fifty miles, and the route is the same as already described, through the nochistongo cut. the returning train at 4.40 p.m. brought them back to the city at seven o'clock, and the trio unanimously voted that they had passed a most agreeable and instructive day. the heads of the youths were filled with archæology, and they felt themselves almost competent to write a history of the toltecs and their migrations, in spite of the obscurity of many of the traditions about this remarkable people.
instead of a history, they acted upon doctor bronson's suggestion, and contented themselves with an account of what they had seen, with a few supplementary notes by way of explanation. from this account we will make a few selections.
warrior's profile, found at tula.
"tula now has a population of less than 2000," said frank in his note-book; "but according to the histories, it was a rival of tenochtitlan, the ancient name of the city of mexico, at the time of the conquest. the inhabitants were firm supporters of cortez, and among the first people to accept the new religion and become his allies. its ancient name was tollan, which is said to mean 'the place of reeds,' and also 'the place of many people.' cortez built a church there very soon after he conquered
