solemn brownstone chapel which marks the spot where, on a June morning 50 years ago, a fateful tragedy was enacted. It is in plain view from the trains of both trunk lines which pass the city. Tourists bound south find more to attract their attention here than at any stop they have made since leaving the border. One of the best known guidebooks gives a carefully prepared description of Querétaro which fills nearly 10 closely printed pages. Nothing is said, however, of a most interesting and important international incident which occurred here in the month of May, 1848, and which directly connects Querétaro with the history of the United States.

"In Querétaro," says a native chronicler, "was signed the treaty of peace with the United States in 1848. Querétaro, at the call of one of her native sons, reëstablished the general government, overthrowing Santa Ana. It is the only place which has energetically opposed Protestantism. It is the only place which possesses an aqueduct comparable to the work of the Romans. Querétaro, after a memorable siege of three months, was the tomb of the empire in 1867." In addition to all this, and much more, the author cites a poet who calls Querétaro a place of hospitality, sincerity, and patriotism.

The old Spanish writers have a story that Querétaro was founded in 1446 and that the monarch, Moctezuma, made it one of the northern fortified ouptposts of the Aztec Empire. The place was evidently well known prior to the conquest.

History really began for Querétaro on Sunday, June 25, 1531, the calendar day of St. James, or Santiago, in Spanish. On the early morning of that day 25,000 Chichimecas, armed with bows and arrows, placed themselves in battle array on the rocky height which is the southern boundary of the town to resist the progress of the audacious Spanish invaders. These, strange to say, were led by two Christianized Indian chiefs. Their new names are given as Nicolas de San Luis Montañez and Fernando de Tápia, who is described as being a son of the Emperor King of Tula de Xiltopec, lying to the south. He was named chieftain and captain by Don Carlos V of Spain. The Indians made a desperate stand. The battle continued furious and doubtful the whole day. Finally, when all were worn and weary, a most wonderful thing occurred. Across the valley, in the canyon to the south through which the Spaniards entered, there seemed to be brewing a tremendous storm, and there, in plain view, sharply outlined across the boiling black cloud, appeared a celestial vision. It was the gigantic, mounted, militant figure of St. James, charging with drawn sword to take the part of the Christians. Above the saint a shining cross was gleaming. This was too much for the poor Indians of rough, untutored mind. The barbarian Chichimecas fell down and fell over each other in eagerness to surrender. They then and there accepted a peace which is said to have at once Christianized and enslaved them. The chronicler states that they were immediately baptized and taught to make the sign of the cross with the right hand. A stone cross was erected on the blood-stained height, and the conquerors sang the fourth gospel, following this with the celebration of the first Christian mass.

Who can wonder, then, that Querétaro has been muy católico ever since that memorable day, or that it was given by his Catholic Majesty Philip IV the official name of Santiago de Querétaro, which it has borne through the centuries; or that, when the cathedral was built, a stone figure of the militant saint was placed above the archway in the great door, where it remains to this day. In due time the first of the many churches of Querétaro was built to commemorate the victory over the savages. It is the massive, immense, stately, picturesque structure called the Temple and Monastery of the Holy Cross. In a glass case above the high altar is still preserved the carved stone cross before which conquerors and conquered bowed after the bloody battle of Sangremal.

On the 21st of June, 1821, in this monastery, Luaces, the Spanish commander, surrendered to the liberal general, Augustine de Iturbide, thus breaking a foreign yoke which Querétaro had worn for 290 years. Maximilian, on his arrival at Querétaro after

TWO MONUMENTS IN QUERÉTARO, MEXICO. Upper: The beautiful monument to Doña Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, heroine of the revolution of 1810. Tower of the Church of San Antonio shown in the left background. Lower: Statue of the Marques de la Villa del Villar, the man who conceived the plan of bringing drinking water to the city from a spring in the canyon 8 kilometers away. The monument was erected in the Plaza de Independencia in 1843, just 100 years after the death of the Marques.

abandoning the city of Mexico, took up his residence and headquarters in this same strong fortress of La Cruz. From it the republicans forced him by an attack on the 15th of May, 1867. He was soon brought back to it a prisoner, and from it he was taken to the small, humble cell in the Convent of the Capuchins, whence, a little more than a month later, he was led to his death on the Hill of the Bells.

The most notable and striking monument in the historic cemetery formerly attached to the church of the Holy Cross is that erected by the nation to the memory of Doña Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, heroine of the revolution of 1810, whose remains were brought from Mexico City to Querétaro, her home, and interred in this burial ground on the 23d of February, 1894. Students of Mexican history will recall her romantic story. She was the wife of the corregidor, or representative of the viceroy, at Querétaro. She is therefore known as La Corregidora. Although associated with royalty, she was a thorough republican and was well informed concerning the meetings, the proceedings, and the widespread conspiracies of the revolutionary club organized at Querétaro. Her husband, the corregidor, knew of her sympathies, but appears not to have called her to account. Finally it came to pass that he felt he must arrest the members of the club, as he had gotten wind of a proposed uprising. To avoid possible trouble at home he locked up his wife in her room in the second story of her home when he went out one night to order the arrests. Anticipating something of this kind, she had arranged with a man servant to come to her when she should stamp on the floor. As soon as her husband left the house she gave the signal, and, speaking to her servant through the keyhole, directed him to mount a horse immediately and hurry north to the town of Dolores and inform Hidalgo and Allende that the plot had been discovered. The servant was faithful to his mistress. Hidalgo arranged for the uprising at once, and this is the reason that the celebration of Mexican independence always takes place at midnight on the 15th of September instead of on the 1st of October, as originally planned. In the museum of the State capitol may be seen under glass the large handmade lock with the keyhole through which the corregidora spoke. Doña Josefa's husband was deposed and imprisoned by the Spanish Government. She herself was sent to the city of Mexico and kept there until the day of her death. The new monument, erected to her memory in the plaza near the center of the city, is really one of the most striking and interesting things to be seen in Querétaro. Probably it is one of the very finest monuments of its class ever erected to the memory of a woman. The design is a single lofty white stone column surmounted by a more than life-size standing female figure in bronze with hand uplifted.

Another notable monument is a white shaft which gracefully rises from the green foliage of the Alameda. It is surmounted by a statue of Columbus and was unveiled on the four hundredth anniversary of his discovery of America.

In the center of the Plaza de Independencia is a statue of the man who conceived the bold idea of bringing drinking water to the city from a spring in the canyon 8 kilometers south. His proposition was the building of a long, high aqueduct across the valley which would deliver the water directly to the Plaza de la Cruz, the highest point in the city. This great work was begun on the 26th of December, 1726, and completed on the 15th of October, 1735, at a cost of a little more than 130,000 pesos, of which the man on the pedestal contributed considerably more than half. The monument was a tardy recognition, for it was not begun until 1843, just 100 years after his death. The front of the monument bears this inscription: "The people of Querétaro to their distinguished benefactor, Don Juan Antonio de Urrutia y Arana, Marques de la Villa del Villar del Aguila, erect this monument in testimony of gratitude, 1892." The great aqueduct which the marquis planned and carried to successful completion nearly 200 years ago is to-day furnishing the same pure, sparkling water to the city. A conspicuous feature of Querétaro landscape is the many fine old Catholic churches monasteries, and convents. They are prominent at almost every turn. One is impressed constantly with their number and their immensity, and finds himself wonder

SECTION OF THE QUERÉTARO AQUEDUCT.

The Marques de la Villa del Villar conceived the idea of bringing pure drinking water to the city of Querétaro by building this long, high aqueduct across the valley from the spring 5 miles away which would deliver the water to the Plaza de La Cruz, the highest point in the town. The work was begun in 1726 and completed in 1735, at a cost of about 130,000 pesos, of which sum the Marques contributed about half. The great aqueduct still furnishes the city an adequate supply of pure, sparkling water.

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