Regarding this German author, the meticulousness of his work contrasts with the absence of biographical data that we have about him. He was born near Hannover, the son of a mining engineer; He studied at the University of Göttingen and was undoubtedly also a mining man.
Liberal and Protestant, influenced by Humboldt's research, he lived in our country for seven years: from 1827 to 1834; however, he waited 10 years to publish his books. Here he was director of works for the English company Mexican Co. and later director of roads for the state of Oaxaca.
The zoology section of his Essay has many interesting facts: the milking of the purple snail for textile dyeing, a macaw that recites verses, large dogs used as draft animals, others "with a thick hump on their back", coyotes that they are fed with honey from bees, wild boars with a hole in their back where they expel a substance, in short, wild bison in the north of the country whose “tongue and the meat of the hump are considered an exquisite delicacy […] the skin with tree bark and they rub it with the brain of the animal stirred with alum ”; they hunted them on horseback, coming at a gallop and severing the tendons of their hind legs with one blow.
This hunting practice against the abundant ducks, today we would call it anti-ecological: “In fact, they literally cover the lakes. The Indians hunt entire flocks of them and the so-called Great Shot of ducks from the lakes of Texcoco and Chalco constitutes one of the most unique spectacles. The Indians form, next to the shore and hidden behind the reeds, a battery of 70 or 80 muskets in two rows: the first, located lower, fires at water level, while the second is arranged so that it reaches ducks when they soar. The barrels are linked by a row of gunpowder, which is lit with a fuse. Once the herders, sailing in canoes, have gathered a dense flock of ducks within the range of the battery, which often takes several hours, fire breaks out and in moments the surface of the lake is covered by hundreds of ducks. wounded and dead, which are collected in the fast canoes ”.
In relation to races and castes, we select some paragraphs, many of which are still valid at the beginning of the 21st century: “The color white was considered the most noble and dignified. As an individual of mixed blood came closer to the target, to the same extent he was granted to claim higher civil rights […] Spanish politics favored and gave impetus to this nonsense […] Everyone insists on being considered white despite the appearances and no greater joy or better compliment can be given to mothers than praise for the white color of their children […] "
“The current Mexican Indian is generally serious, quiet and even almost melancholic, as long as the music and intoxicating drink do not awaken his vital spirit and make him happy and talkative. This seriousness is already noticeable in children, who at five or six years of age seem to have a greater capacity for understanding than that of northern Europeans at nine or ten years […] "
“Today's Indian learns easily, understands quickly and has a very appropriate and healthy intellect, as well as natural logic. He thinks calmly and coldly, without being disturbed by an exalted imagination or an unstable feeling […] The Indians feel great love for their children and treat them with care and great sweetness, sometimes even excessive ”.
"Extraordinarily captivating and even seductive is the party attire of mestizo women of a certain social class, to which are added the chambermaids, cooks, maids and even some wealthy Indian women from here and there [...]"
“At first it is very striking to the foreigner that the people of the lower classes, even the beggars themselves, address each other with the lord and the gift, and exchange the most courteous phrases, typical of the finest customs of the high society".
"Mexican sociability has as its characteristic and fundamental trait the passionate inclination of all classes of the population for games of chance and all kinds of gambling [...]"
“In the burning of fireworks to honor God and the saints, at least as much gunpowder is spent in Mexico as in constant civil wars. Often already in the early hours of the morning the devotion of the faithful is made public with the launching of innumerable rockets, cannon, pistol, rifle and mortar shots. An endless roar of bells joins the already deafening noise, which is only interrupted for a certain time to eventually restart in the middle of the afternoon and at night ”.
Let's find out about transportation from Mexico to Veracruz: “More than ten years ago a line of stagecoaches for this highway was created by North American businessmen. The four horse drawn carriages are made in New York and are comfortable and spacious enough for six people. The American coachmen drive from the box and almost always at a gallop. In these cars you travel very fast, but they never travel at night ”.
This ancient service continues, to date, in the capital square of Santo Domingo: “What stranger would not have noticed in the Plaza Mayor and its surroundings those well-dressed men provided with pen, ink and paper, sitting in the shade of awnings of mat or who roam the crowd offering their services to laymen in the art of writing? They are the so-called evangelists and they write a love letter with the same facility as a formal request, an accounting document, a complaint or a presentation to a court. "
