When he had done the museum, with its State coaches, cannon and mementoes of Maximilian's brief reign, his guide took him out on to the terrace of the Palace. Beneath, the wooded slope
fell steeply, and above the tree tops there was a fine view of the scores of lofty modern blocks that dotted the city. From among the trees in the near foreground there arose six smooth stone columns, about forty feet high with rounded tops. His guide told him that at the time of the war between Mexico and the United States, which took place in 1846-8, the Castle had been a Military Academy. When the victorious American troops entered Mexico City they had demanded that the Mexican cadets should haul down their country's flag. The cadets had refused, and six gallant youngsters had defended the Castle to the end, dying there rather than surrender. The war had been lost. It cost Mexico her vast northern territories. The United States established her claim to Texas and acquired California, in which gold was soon afterwards discovered; but nothing could ever rob Mexicans their pride in the six heroic boys whose monument was these six tall stone columns.
Returning to the city, Adam again walked round the best shopping area, looking for a place to lunch, and, from the dozen or more restaurants, decided on the Chalet Suisse. He made an excellent meal of a dish of huge Pacific prawns, a Cassata ice and carafe of the local wine. Compared with what he would have had to pay for the same meal in a smarter restaurant, the bill was surprisingly reasonable and, although he had no longer to think bout money, being a true Scot he made up his mind to return there frequently.
Adam hated sleeping in the afternoon, as if he did he always awoke up with a headache; but, in accordance with ancient Spanish custom, everything was shut during the siesta hours; so he spent them reading on his bed, then again took a taxi out to the Park, this time to the new Museum of Anthropology. It proved another revelation to him of the wealth and enterprise of modern Mexico, for it is the finest museum of its kind in 'the world. The roof of the vast central hall is supported by a single pillar, in girth as great as a three hundred year old oak tree and eighty feet in height. It is carved with Maya glyphs and down it streams a cascade of water to splash on the stone floor thirty feet or so all round it. Outside the building, although it was early January, it was pleasantly warm; inside, this fountain in reverse made the hall very cold, but its function was to render the museum cool during the great heats of summer.
On three sides of the main hall there were spacious rooms with many exhibits of the numerous cultures of ancient Mexico, the earliest dating from a time when Hammurabi was ruling in
Babylon: Otomic, Tepexpan, Huastec, Olmec, Maya, Chichimec,
Toltec, Totonac, Mixtec, Tarascan, Zapotec and Aztec. All had individuality there were the huge stone negroid heads of the Olmecs, crowned with helmets such as modern motor cyclists wear; colossal columns representing Toltec warriors; slabs from temples carved by the Zapotecs with intricate geometrical designs; gold Mixtec necklaces of most delicate workmanship; images of Maya priests with flattened foreheads, great, curved noses and elaborate head dresses; delightfully amusing Tarascan pottery figures; and big, wheel like stones on which were carved the symbols of the Aztec calendar, the earlier cultures having contributed to the later ones. There were also papier mache models of ancient cities and, set in the walls, hundreds of coloured photographs lit from behind, showing archaeological sites.
Above these salons there was another range of rooms, demonstrating the life led in the Indian villages of the various nations. These contained figures of men, women and children, weaving hunting, cooking, fishing, in open sided huts and under groups of palm trees. There were arrays of bows and arrows, cases of coins and pigments, beautiful feather head dresses and cloaks of many colours. Then, in a basement building, entered from one side of the ground floor, there was an exact replica of the famous tomb at Palenque, with the skeleton of the High Priest lying in it and, in a separate case, the fabulous jade death mask that had lain on his dead face for many hundreds of years.
Adam was enthralled. He spent four hours in the museum and could happily have remained there for several days. The Aztec exhibits meant little to him, but he recognised a number of items from the older cultures and found himself specially familiar with those of the Toltecs who had arisen about A.D. 200 and flourished until late in the tenth century. The latter was the period in Europe with which he was most familiar and he definitely made up his mind that he would set his novel in the Mexico of those days.
Before he left England, friends had warned Adam that the height of Mexico City might affect him, so he should be careful not to exert himself too much. But so far he had felt no ill effects from the rarified air at seven thousand five hundred feet; so, as it was a nice evening, he decided to walk back to his hotel.
At intervals along the Paseo de la Reforma there are junctions each with a roundabout at which other streets enter it, several of them being the site of lofty statues. There is one to Columbus, another to Carlos IV retained only because the Mexicans have an affection for El Caballito, his beautifully modelled little horse and a third to their national hero, the Emperor Cuauhtémoc. The westernmost of these great open spaces is at the entrance to the Park and has in its centre the Diana Cazadora Fountain. For strangers not yet familiar with Mexican traffic signals, these roundabouts are difficult to cross.
When stepping off the pavement towards the Fountain, Adam failed to look behind him, and a stream of traffic had just been released from that direction. The Mexicans are habitually fast drivers and, at the signal, three cars abreast shot forward. Too late, Adam realised his danger. The car heading for him had no room to swerve. He jumped towards the pavement, but the near mudguard of the car caught him on the thigh, bowling him over so that his head hit the kerb. Stars whirled before his eyes and, next moment he was in another world.
CHAPTER 3
The Man God
ADAM was still in Mexico City, but it was an utterly different place from that in which his big body lay limp and unconscious on the pavement. The street he was in was narrow, most of the houses in it were not more than two storey’s high. There were no cars, lorries, carts or even donkeys, but many people. They were bronze skinned, had intensely black hair and eyes and were thickset but considerably shorter than Europeans, averaging only about five foot three inches in height. The men wore their hair pinned high on their heads and decorated with little mirrors; the women wore it in thick, plaited pigtails. All had on blanket like garments, with geometrical designs of many colours. The better dressed men had theirs suspended by a tie from two corners across the front of the throat so that they hung draped over the shoulders and backs; those of the others, and all the women's, simply had a hole in the middle through which their heads were thrust.
Suddenly, as Adam walked down the street, he became aware of three things: he was a head and shoulders taller than anyone within sight; he was playing a flute; and the people regarded him with reverence, but without fear. As he approached they all drew aside, backed against the walls, smiled at him, then bowed deeply and gravely. As he advanced, a litter carried by four bearers came towards him. The bearers promptly set it down. A young woman with a golden ornament entwined in her hair, gold bangles on her wrists and dressed in garments of such fine spun cotton that they were almost diaphanous, stepped out and genuflected as he passed.