The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 22, July 1918 - April, 1919 Page: 35
521 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Acapulco and the Manila, Galleon 35
at Mexico of the authorized mule-trains by forwarding goods
ahead to be sold before that date.
When that time came the long caravans of mules laden with
merchandise trailed out of Acapulco and up the mountain road
into the interior. The more affluent merchants and passengers off
the galleon went north in cavalcades, though some, like Gemelli,
preferred the hardier and more sure-footed mules for their jour-
ney. With them went all those who, in one way or another, had
shared in the harvest that attained the feria. The Peruvians,
who may have carried on their operations quite openly at Aca-
pulco, or more clandestinely at the nearby haven of Puerto Mar-
qu6s, boarded their ship and cleared her for the south. There
only remained the permanent inhabitants of the place,66 and those
who were engaged in the preparation of the galleon for her return
voyage.
In New Spain the "China Road" ranked in importance with
the eastward camino by Puebla and Orizaba to Vera Cruz. About
110 leagues, by the computation of the arrieros, it stretched north
from Acapulco to Mexico. through the modern states of Guerrero
and Morelos.6 Its upper course followed approximately the route
of the unfinished extension of the National Railway from its ter-
minal at Balsas through Cuernavaca to the capital. As the road
led out of Acapulco it entered the rugged defiles of the Sierra
Madre del Sur,-"vast high Mountains," Gemelli Careri called
them.68 Through this wild region the only signs of habitation
were the inns located every three or four leagues, and an occasional
Indian village. The road led through forests of Brazil-wood, over
steep mountains, like that of the Papagayo, and across the river of
the same name, and thence by the pleasant town of Chilpancingo,
lying among corn fields. This was the most considerable place
between Cuernavaca and Acapulco, and had several Spanish in-
""Thursday 7th, . . the Porters of Acapulco made a sort -of Fun-
eral, carrying one of their number on a Beer, and bewailing him as if he
were dead, because their Harvest was at an end; for some of them had
got three pieces of Eight a day, and the worst of them one." Gemelli,
op. cit.
'HTumboldt, Political Essay, I, int., XXXVIII-XLT. There is a large
,detailed map of the road in Humboldt's Atlas gdographique et physique
du royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne (Paris, 1811), care 5. See 'also
Terry, Mexico-Handbook for Travellers (Mexico and Boston, 1909), 432-61.
"8Churchill, Voyages, IV, 505.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 22, July 1918 - April, 1919, periodical, 1919; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117156/m1/43/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.