A GLIMPSE OF MEXICO.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1672, 24 March 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

A GLIMPSE OF MEXICO.

Svn FiuNOiscois rapidly forsaking the " dandy rig" of the gambler, and assuming the sober garb of commercial propriety. Stocks have gone " all endways." The old times when fortunes were made and lost in a day, when a man might go to bed a pauper and wake a millionaire, or wake a millionaire and go to bed a pauper, have vanished. Nor is it proable that they ever will return. Those were times ! Refer to them in the presence of anyone who knew them in their golden prime and mark how his eyes will glisten. How eagerly will he launch forth upon a sea of anecdote! how he will revel in the train of recollections thus induced 1 " Dog gone if I know the place 1" said an old fellow to me when I was last there. "Ye never see a shot fired from year's end to year's end now. No, sir. Why, it isn't often ye even hear a champagne cork drawn. 'Stead of the clink of gold, ye hear nothing but the scratching of pens. All the boys are gone, and there's only store clerks and society men — bummers we call 'cm — t' associate with. Ye never saw such a change in all your life. I'll be dog gone if the women's half as pretty as they were. Law 1 'Taint no sort of a place to what it used to be. No, sir." Nevertheless, to the stranger it will seem that a spirit of princely extravagance still characterises the inhabitants of the Golden City. With his last ten-dollar piece the true San Franciscan will dine sumptuously, take a box at the theatre, or a drive out to the Cliff House. His last twenty -five cents will be invested in a good cigar. The veriest " dead beat" who asks you for money in the street would feel insulted by a tender of coppers. The Californian will starve rather than pinch. Fortunately, he has only to work to be rich. There is no fight for existence there. No man need jostle his neighbour. Such being the case, men accept greater risks and experience losses with less concern than is the case in Europe. Returning to San Francisco after an ,abBence of twelve months, I discovered that several men who during my previous visit had appeared to possess bottomless purses, had vanished from the club circle. 41 Where is A. ?" I asked. " A. ? Obyhe's got a mine down in Arizona. When the bottom tumbled out of that Pole Star silver mine. A. had to skin out of bis." 11 And what has beoome of B. ?" 11 Well, one of the boys met him prospecting down in New Mexico the other day. Said he was carrying his own pack, dead broke. ,B. will be up again though. He's a ruffler. You'll hear of him soon." 41 Has C. gone too ?" " Yes. Soon after you left, they knocked Golcondas higher 'n a kite. C. was a large holder. They do say he's prospecting a new ' mine down in Tombstone country, and it's likely to turn out a Bonanza. Hope it will, ' anyhow." Amongst these incogniti was a prince of good f ellowsj at whose hands I had formerly experienced the warmest hospitality. I determined to go south and visit him. at, his new mine in Sonora. In due course the Southern Pacific Railway landed me at Tucson. Thence the journey had to be continued by stage.,, I was driven to the Metropolitan Hotel, to .the proprietor of which, Mr. Maloncy, I ,had a message of introduction. < >, • 41 What time does the stage start fon Magdalen a?" was my first inquiry. •> 44 Magdalena ? Well, I guess you'll have „to wait here till Saturday now.' , Stage ,went , out this morning at eight o'clock,?.' ss&Ltlje bar--keeper. It was nine o'olook on Tuesday., I had seen enough pi Tucson en route from the' station to prompt an; impolite apostrophe j to my ill-luok. The 'bar-keeper, did not seeni torealise any misfortune in a delay .of four days at Tucson. n ■ .. , ...f .' i 41 Take a drink ?" said he. " Thars worse places than Tucson. Thars places , where, you can't get a drink.'! •„'.■ o I took a drink. The bar-keeper jqined.nie. 14 Is Mr. Maloney in ?" I inquire<i« n < „,.; , 41 Mr. Maloney has not long, gone to; bed. 11 The boys was, having a little,game of. .',' freeze out. ilast night.r I guess he!ll be aboutagain at mid-day." • ,1 ' ! < < I wasiassigned;a bedroom, or rather, alqpse 1 box, in the ; qu*drangle of bedroom'sha^ne back, of 'the saloon. After breakfasting,! l' strolled out to look at the town. Unjal^elye months previously, nthe. railway, /reached itji . -Tucson. 'was an. unimportant, dob/3j, village. Now it iB 'growing rapidly.' ..Edifices ,pf . brick

.ue springing up. Practically it is the g'atei way betwixt Mexico and the Western States, and in a few year 3 it will ,be a considerable town., Under the shop awnings in the main street loitered a crowd of handaorne, bearded, bronzed rninera from the neighbouring,mining districts. To and fro flitted a few busy store-clothed storekeepers and clerks. Here and there a knot of men might be Been 1 examining some specimens of quartz. Here and there a couple of leather-breeched cowboys, ostentatiously " heeled," rode past on their Mexican-saddled bronchos. Yonder a chain-and-ball gang of convicts slowly advanced, sweeping. the dusty road. In a place of this kind the barber's shop, next to the drinking saloons, is the chief place of resort. ■ The, barber, in importance, ranks second only to the artistic mixer of cool drinks. He is hail-fellow-well-met with everyone. Especially cheery and amusingly ceremonious is Figaro if he happens to be a coloured man. His memory is prodigious^ Men enter that he has not seen for months, and with whom he is perhaps only slightly acquainted. Yet will he resume the conversation precisely where it was terminated. He will remind his visitor exactly of what he said and what his projects were when he last was shaved, and he will persistenly inquire how far those assertions have been verified and those intentions fulfilled. Having posted himself up to the latest date in all that concerns the victim of his curiosity, he proceeds in return to furnish him with biographical sketches of such later passages in the lives of his friends as may have escaped his knowledge. Eeturning to the hotel I found that Mr. Paul 1 Maloney had arisen. I also found a card of invitation from (I think it was) the Union Club, awaiting me. Being somewhat dubious as to the nature of a club in Tucson, I interrogated Maloney on the subject. "Do you care to play monte?" he asked, weighing the card in his hand. " Not particularly." " Well." That "well," drawled out and sustained, and the look that accompanied it, told me quite as much about the club as I deaired to know. Paul and I cemented our acquaintance with cocktails. Conversation at any time, on any topic, or with any person in Tucson, invariably led to this ceremony. Cocktail drinking Las a peculiar charm of its own which lifts it above drinking as otherwise practised. Your confirmed cocktail drinker is not to be confused with the ordinary sot. He i 3 a true artist. With what exquisite feeling will he graduate his cups, from the gentle " smile" of early morn to the potent " smash" of night. The analytic skill of a chemist marks his swift and unerring detection of the very faintest dissonance in the harmony of the ingredients that compose his beverage. He has an antidote to dispel, a tonic to induce every mood and humour that man knows. Endless variety rewards a single-hearted devotion to cocktails, whilst the refinement and artistic spirit that may be displayed in such an attachment, redeem it from intemperance. It becomes an art. It is drinking , etherealised, rescued from vulgar appetite and brutality, purified of its low origin and ennobled. A cocktail hath the soul of wit, it is brief. It is a jest, a bon-mot, happy thought, a gibe, a word of sympathy, a tear, an inspiration, a short prayer. A list of your experienced cocktail drinker's potations for the day forms a complete picture, fraught with every nuance of delicate shading. Nothing is so delightful in nature as the effects created by liquid. Why should this not be so in human nature too? At length the four days* passed, and seated in the corpulent, dropsical old coach with its team of four wheelers and four leaders, we rumbled slowly out of Tucson. The passengers were a Mexican dame with a baby, a Mexican man, a miner, and myself. There was a coachman, and a second whip who sat beside him, with a short but powerful weapon. Thus armed he made short excursions from the box-seat to the ground, whilst the coach was in motion, and fought it out with any refractory member of the team as he ran along. Collecting a pocketful of the wickedest stones he could find, he would then return and ,pelt the bronchos from his proper elevation. Another of his duties was to disentangle the team when, as not unfrequently occurred, so many of the leaders faced the wheelers that further progress became impossible. It also fell to his lot to tie the coach together when its dissolution was imminent. In the performance of his various duties, this individual displayed considerable agility, ability, andjre^ource. The Mexican dame was frightful. It was evident that the baby was her own. Nor was the family likeness the only proof of their relationship. It was a musical baby. Mother and infant left us at the end of the first stage. The male Mexican slept all day. Towards evening he awoke and reduced himself to a state of complete intoxication with maacal. The miner never opened his lips until the following morning, just before we entered Magdalena, when we happened to pass a jackass rabbit. " Next jackass rabbit we see, I'll be dog durned if I don't shoot him," said he. He forthwith produced one of the largest Colt's revolvers that is made and cocked it. But we did not see another rabbit, so I missed this exhibition of his skill. He subsequently proved to be an Englishman. By the pace at which we proceeded during the night, I judged that the Mexican's bottle of mascal was not the only one we had onboard. The jolting was terrific. Besides encountering the r regular ruts and inequalities in the ground, we struck every now and then full gallop against a loose boulder, or the projecting surface of a rock, the shock of which brought our heads in stunning contact with the 1 brass-capped' nails that studded theroof of the coach. I was Sometimes in doubt whether Imy neck was broken or not. "When Magdalena Was' reached my scalp was raw, and every angle I possessed was bruised. ' Stage travelling in Mexico, if this waB a fait sample of it, is neither luxurious nor speedy. Owing to the irregularity with which the coach is conducted, it is impossible for relays to be in attendance. ' Not until the coach arrives is a man sent out to drive in fresh ■horses from 'the country. As they roam free over 1 the 'broad 'mesas^ they may be miles from home, consequently it' is no unsiial occurrence, for the best part' of a day to be wasted before they are found. Outward bound, we were singularly fortunate in this respect. On the return journey our delays were all prolonged, in some cases exceeding even five or six hours. The wattled shells arid huts at which these intervals are passed are of the filthiest description. ' '''' "Sdme'of the teams were curiously mixed. One consisted of three donkeys, two" mules, and' three brdnchos. Most of them were partly composed of' ihules. ' Some were poor, others remarkably good.' Particularly noteworthy was the performance of a' level team of sturdy bronchos,i;h'atwepicked|uplate in the afternoon; and that' of a fine team, of mules which took us into ' Magdalena on thp fol1 lowing morning. ' The stages were about six-, teen and eighteen mUes' respectively. ' With the exception 'of 'a few short stoppages 1 occasioned by trouble with the harness, these dis-' 'tarices were' bdvered L 'at fall 'gallop,',' notwithstanding which, the teams pulled up almost as fresh asithdy Started; 1 ■ ' ' In one instance 8 of stock 1 ne- '■ cessitatqduthe. .lassoing, of; .a horse ■ that had, never been broken. :;He fought gallantly, and ...an .exhibition, ,pf singular. Jbrutfility. ensued

which lasted nearly hklf an hour. In 1 the corral, however, there w^as no escape' for Him, and eventually he was thrown half "strangled on the ground, when the lasso was loosened', and a few minutes were given him 'f or" recovery. Not until these tactics had been thrice repeated did' he allow himself to be harnessed. Once in the collar, he held to go with tb!e' rdst. I must do our driver the justice to say that he handled the ribbons with admirable skill and audacity. To add to the interest of the ; trip, it Was expected that we should be'stopped by cowboys. These knights-errant had ] lately ' gone through ' the coaches with great regularity, and in anticipation of ah encounter our driver and his aide were armed to the teeth. ' Fortunately, neither our wealth nor valour was called into requisition. i With demoniacal yells and a furious cracking of whips, we dashed .j^agclalena and pulled up in the Square. ' It >J was Sunday, the good people were just issuing from the church. Mexican maidens in white or brilliant robes trooped out in twos and threes, and hand in hand went laughingly homewards. And here I feel the Scribbling traveller's temptation to romance. A fanciful picture of some dark-eyed beauty, with proud Castilian features, and playful dignity and grace of manner, would fit my tale so well. You would be none the wiser. ,In a Mexican sketch one expects a pretty woman, even as one looks for lions in African and elephants in Indian' scenery. But I will be conscientious. I was so disgusted myself that I would have you also somewhat disappointed. Expect, therefore, no glowing description of female loveliness from me. Good-looking women doubtless exist in Mexico, but I have only been a few miles over the border, and have~ not seen them. A hazy recollection of flowers, in connection with this scene of church-going damsels, haunts me. But whether they were worn in the hair, or in the dress, or simply, carried, Ino longer recollect. Men in their coloured zarapas and broad-brimmed hats chattered and smoked the eternal cigarette.' Old women in black robe 3 loitered about and gossiped. The commandanie and a r few ( officials sat on one of the old stone seats. A few miners loafed before the American hotel, the name of which I forget, as also that of the plump, jovial, masterful hostess and her tame English husband. Here, I breakfasted, and in the afternoon went out to the mme — a distance of about twenty-three miles. Past the Sierra Ventana (so called on account of the hole or window by which a shoulder of it is perforated) and over wave after wave of rolling country sparsely scattered with mesketis-bush we rode, my guide and I, towards some ruddy hills in the distance, and dusk had fallen and night had come, when we ascended the mountain , spur on which the mine was situated. The stalwart form of my friend, whom I will call by his nickname, Don Cabeza, came out of the cottage. Not expecting me, he took ,me for a new mining hand.. " Buenas noches, senor," said I. " Beuena noches." "HablaV. Ca'stellano ? " " No hablo so much as all that comes to." Then I burst out laughing. ♦« Why 1 If it isn't Francis 1 " What a warm-hearted greeting he gave me 1 How hospitably he spread the best of everything he had before me 1 and even would he have ielinquished his bed to me, had I allowed him to do so. I had a quantity of news for him, but much as he longed to near it he he insisted on its narration being deferred until I should have slept and rested. There is much that is very admirable in the character of these Western men. I speak not of the ' store clerks and society men or bummers' for whom my old Frisco friend had such undisguised contempt, but of those who came in early days to California. They are lost in a crowd of a different type and of a later date now; wherever you find one though, you will find a large-hearted generous man, with nothing ' small or mean' in his whole character. In the better stamp of old Calfornia there is less of the, snob than in any man in the world. He cares very' little for what Pall Mall would call ' good form,' but he cares a great deal for what is manly and unselfish, and in carrying put these views he is as fearless of what others may think or say as he is of wha^ they may do. , Those days were very pleasant up ,at the mine. Lazy ? Well, yes ; I fancy everything in Mexico is more or less lazy. We were so entirely out of the world ; the trip moreover was so utterly disconnected with anything that came before or followed it, that, when I look back upon it, it stands out in, solitary relief. The Santa Anna was a new purchase ; Don Cabeza was prospecting it. It promised well, but as yet he had not commenced, to work, it on a large scale. A dobe cottage of three rooms had been built for him and the,foreman, and here we lived. Below us in wattled huts, dwelt the Yaqui miners and their families. A little removed from the cottage was an open bough-thatched arbour, in which we took our meals. Betwixt this and the cottage was a stunted tree that served various purposes, .besides being shady and ornamental. Lodged in the first fork was our water-barrel. The coffee-grinder was nailed to its trunk. In a I certain crevice the soap was always to be found. Upon one bough hung the towels ; the looking-glaas • depended from another. One branch supported the long iron drill that, j used as a gong, measured with' beautifully musical tones the various watches of the miners. Amidst the roots, the axe in its leisure moments invariably reposed. Our tree, in short, was a kind of dumb-waiter, without which we should have been lost. The country teemed 1 with quail and jackass rabbits. We bought an old Westley Richards shot-gun in Magdalena, and did great slaughter amongst them. Deer were reported to be numerous, but during my stay we saw none. A great part of our time'was spent incooking. The China boy, nominally chef, was so >wondrously dirty that one day we rebelled and degraded him to the post of scullion ; and, being rather proud of our culinary skill,' we undertook the preparation of the meals ourselves. Jerked beef, bacon, quails,' jackass rabbit, beans, and rice were the articles we Had to work upon. Don Cabeza mixed the introductory cocktail, and took oharge of ■ the jerked beef and beans ; the quails and jackass rabbit fell to my care ; bacon was a neutral property ; the rice we left to the Celestial. 3 Most elaborate, at least in the titles, were the' menus we produced, One Mexican dish' that the Don 'used' to prepare, of "jerked ' beef pounded and fried with a little butter and a few chopped chillies, was worthy of note. Jerked beef and jackass rabbit ! We laughed as we compared these' frugal meals with' the 1 extravagant breakfasts and dinners of 'a year ago at ' Marchands's, the California,' 'and the Poodledog ! in San Francisco. "'And, by the way, if you are known at either' of the' above restaurants, you can be served there with a dinner that neither the " Trois Frdres '"' not •• Bigrion V 6ould easily excel.' * ' ! " Every now and then/ some Ya'quimeh' or women would come up from their 1 little colony below to purchase' something frolii' 'the .storeroom' which, owing ita the distance from town,' it' was 'necessary to ke'ep^for their ''benefit. $reat' jiras" the' mirth of the ' wbmeri fr tb 'see Don Cabeza' and me cooking. 'They said we were ''loco* or rnadl''Go'od 'tempered f ctfeatureni .wete' these r Yaquis;'and ; easily pleased, for they regarded 1 it x &i '«T signal compliment" 'iflskfetc^; O ne ; ofthem.'' ; / /' , ;"J t ;' ° coul,d, understand why, tiroes spe'djflOj i rapidly Jat the ' mine'. J There ' was " replly r ;np- r .- filling to,dd ttiere. t So far asXwWconcerned this ,was fortunate, ior, had there been,' jTnever, i should' h'aye'fou^d^ttoe'in.^hjcH.^'jd^it;;

"Poco tie~mpo.i4 a phr'a'ste very' easily ddbpte'd in 'this land of idleness 'and procrastination.' Before iilorning had fairly broken, evening approached. And what evenings they were I Ifl the' rfiajr of the cottage; thd spur led' lip to rocky canons and gaunt' ridge^ ; before 'it'/ vast mesas 'stretched like a sea away to a faroff horizon 'of mduntains that, in the distance, looked as soft* as low down clouds. Behind these purple ranges we lost the sun at' right, when it sank to rest a tnolteri mass of glowing, gleaming', iridescent" 'fire, blinding to gaze' upon. Swiftly it passed beyond ken; and sable shadows fell and dimmed the landscape. With imperceptible process they knit its distances together, shrouding the intervals in mystery and ' obscurity, till nought but the deceptively near sky-line waa clearly visible.' And above it like a halo on the niodhtains, the glow of orange deepening into red still suffused the heavens with subdued illumination. Thu^on the one hand might be seen, high set in a fathomless depth' of blue, amidst glittering cohorts' of stars that were far and near twinkling and fixed, blue' and white and red and yellow, the silver beauty of a crescent moon; on the other the' lingering glory of the vanished sun.' The effect was curious. The foreman went early to bed and waa early abroad. Not so Don Cabeza and I. When the mocking-bird in the meskietiS-bush had ceased its plaintive song, and silence fell upon the land, w r e would light our largest pipes, endue us in our easiest garments, and sit (he on a carpenter's bench, I in a barrow) smoking and yarning, yarning and' smoking, without thought of time, through the still watches of those enchanting southern nights. How many and what' pleasant hours did ire spend thus I But then Cabeza possessed a ; shrewd, crisp vein of wit, and an inexhaustible 1 fund of experiences, yarns, anecdotes, and arguments. No more amusing fellow to sit aiid smoke with ever breathed. Occasionally we went into Magdalena for stores and letters. Magdalena can boast of a' ; past of some prosperity;' a more important future lies before it. At present it bears the stamp of ' dilapidation, poverty, and squalor that characterises most Spanish towns. Probably not a dozen of the inhabitants are' uri'incumbered with debt, nevertheless everybody, even to the beggar in the street, possesses from two or three to ten or a dozen mines'. It sounds absurd to hear a fellow in rags discoursing glibly about his mines. Still more absurd is it to know that many of them are really of great value. The iron safe, however, is only to be opened by a golden key, and a coined dollar in Magdalena is worth a fortune underground.' Little doubt exists that, when the railways now entering from the States are completed, and capital and energy pour into the country, enormous wealth will be found' hidden in its veins of quartz. The hills around Magdalena _' i give evidence of gold, silver, and galena ore in every' direction. Nor is gold wanting in the river-beds and valleys. All that is required is energy arid capital. Scarcity of water circumscribes the relative area of country suitable for cultivation ; but where it is to be obtained its effects is magical, and the fertility of the land becomes almost incredible. Not a tithe of that which is eligible is cultivated, for the indolence of the native's is remarkable. Even fiuch ordinary vegetables as potatoes 'and onions are scarcely to be obtained. A zarapa, a handful of beans, and a ' little tobacco suffice for all the Mexican's requirements. If bis vocabulary were limited to " Porque ? " and "Poco tiernpo," it would not inconvenience him. Northern Sonora derives its chief support from cattle, In most instances the ranches are of a large extent, but poorly stocked, formerly they were in better condition,.but they suffered severely from Apache raids, from which it is said that they have never entirely recovered. The Indians drove off or killed all but the very poorest animals, and the ranches have been restocked by the slow process of breeding from those they left. ; Latterly a ,few bulls and stallions of a better , class have been imported from the States. It 'is difficult to obtain a title to ranche' property here. The ranche usually belongs to all such members of the family as choose to remain and living upon it. In Some cases, therefore, the proprietors have become very numerous, and as families are not more apt to agree upon' any given point in Mexico than' they are 1 elsewhere, a vast amount of bribery and diplomacy is required to effect a purchase. One day the Don and I came into Magdalena with the avowed intention of hiring a cook. The foreman, arid Charley the Chinese boy, had been dispatched once or twice unsuccessfully on the same errand, but Cabesa said : " I guess if we go ourselves, and they see how real nice we are, they'll all want to come." Accordingly we enlisted all the storekeepers in' the place in a search for "a real Way -up cook who can make chile-con-came, tamales, and all the best Mexican dishes, besides understanding American cookery." "And say," Cabeza would conclude, in giving his directions, " she's got to be a beautiful woman too, because we're good-looking ourselves, and we don't like to see homely women about the place." Having posted our requirements in the various stores, we went.off to the American Hotel, where, by dint of making desperate love to the plump' hostess, we succeeded in obtaining a sack of potatoes and half a sack of onions-^part of a consignment she had lately received from Hermosillo. She had just been engaged in a battle royal with the waiterj whom she had demolished with the kitchen coal-shovel. She was 1 inclined, therefore, to be very affable and good-humoured, nay, she even volunteered, for a consideration, to come out to the mine and cook for us herself. " You want a boss cook and a beauty, Don Cabeza, eh ? ' "Well I guess I'm both, you give me to come out to the mine and cook?" , 'i' I ' The' Don was equal to the occasion. '•• The fact is, Mrs. -, if we got you out there we should lose the only pleasure we have; we should 'never be able to getaway, to come in here and see you," said he. ' In ' the principal square in Magdalena stood the church ; near it were the rums of a still more ancient edifice. To the latter, called the church of San Francisco, a legend Was attached. I give it as it was related to me by a miner. , ' " Wai see, Sanwa'n't always a saint, San ,wa'n!t. They do say he was 'customed sometimes to go on the scoop, on, abend as it were. However, he changed over in time and come to' be a Bishop. This here district was in nils, claim. Wai, happened once when the .Bishop was prespecting round, to see that the sky pilots on hia claim was all at work, that the outfit b'af»ked tl up here for the night. Next morning,' when they was all hitched up and.'ready for a 'start, t they r came to' hoist old "San' on his mule arid couldn't prize him' up anyhow., ''They' put on fresh hands and' tried all they durried ' knewi but San he'd taken' : o v r6ot, and thar he sat like an oyster on a, rock, ' and weighVdas neavy' as a ton of lead. " Boys," says 1 he at last, "ye can let up, hauling as soon as ye'durnea 1 please. Guess I'll' stay right here. ,W&lta in, riow >J ,'a l n' put up a church right away.," And .thar he ,stopped sure 'nough.' fta.\ tfiat)£.,h'o% this here church an', town| '(JanjeVto/'fe'j^iltj least, so folk's sayherer 'apout!* ' B^th'ey' do'lie ( ' here 1 , too," he added r re'flectiVelyV after 'a'pkuse'., , ' ' ' 'making r r r a.Bketch'6f thisruin one one when ,tiie nostess of the American Hotel 'came'up^ria looked' on.' '*''„'' ' ' , f^'^Why, if &kt ain't ,the old church; 1 Say, are yotf a dra'^in 1 q master ? " ane asked. 1 ;'" v Ye t s J ' i >aid > I, ?rien r d?lcioußly. "Do you Jthpk^coulci; pet' anXpupiltf about here ? "

j i,>' j ,, ~ ~ ,' !;. • j "Don't know; guess^ ..they cloa't go much fv ■ ty>r drawing here. , You jpaight get a few girlg" if yo,u wore cheap." , ' •<,'•> j After the.dusty and dirty town, we returned , (jo the prettily situated dobe cottage at. the , tnine with <- renewed pleasure. At, length the' time; came : f or, me to depart. The ( horses were driven in, from the, mesas; ,the near fore cart'-. jvheel,(whioh, when, not to ,use, -was invalided and kept 'in ,water,,to prevent the wpod,shrinfcng from the iron, tire) was fixed on ; .the old , Isarkwas lined.with blankets, and,' we started,pne night after; dinner to drive into Magdfc- -, lenaior the last time. ,{ —~:W s^m E3, p ( The day had been oppressive, but now theie , Was a refreshing softness in the air. At every pace as we jogged along, hares lolloped across t the road, or played amidst ,the" (scattered ,mes-ketis-bush,on either side of, it., ; Occasionally . the howl of a distant cayate might be heard. ( Night-hawks' and owls flitted silently to and, fro,, aud f • shar,dborne beetles ' drowsily sang as they wheeled in the dreamy, welkin. , The Jstars, tbe stillness, and the silken winds com* ibined to work a charm. Night wore her rioh6it jewellery, sang low her softest • melodyi ! whispered her sweetest poem, and showed her. '.beauty all unveiled even by ,the lightest fleece , ,of silver cloud. , , Until I saw these Mexican iskie3, l never knew, how, much more beautiful, .nighlj was than day. For L every star you dimly .distinguish here, a thousand are clearly visible}, i there. Their number and refulgence start^m lyou., Were Ito live in Mexico, I should be i strongly tempted to rise at sundown and go . to rest at dawn. '^B??! , Once more the corpulent coach looms into jview., Once more am, I uncomfortably en- r .sconsed therein. With a torrent of Spanish in- , vective and a terrific crackiqg of whips, we, I slowly etart., The opaqhjturns around a ,corj ncr and I catch a last glimpse of Don GabezaJ, i with his hat off in the jroad, waving a kindly I adieu to me | ;, tiI3?C2J „ - F. Fkancis.'^

FOOD MA.KES THE MiN. I Speaking roughly, about three-fourths, by . weight, of the. body of man is constituted by {the fluid' he' consumes, and the remaining , fourth by the' solid material he appropriates! It is therefore no figure of speech to saythat food makes the man. We mighj; even put the case in a stronger light and affirm that man is his food. It is strictly 'and literally true, that' " A man - wno brinks beer thinks beer." We make this concession to the teetotalers, and will add that good sound beer is by no means a bad thought factor, whatever may be the intellec-' tual value of , the commodity commonly sold and consumed under that name 1 It cannot obviously be a matter of indifference what a man eats and drinks. He is, in fact, choosing his animal and moral character when he selects his food. It is impossible for, him to change his inherited nature, simply because modifications of development occupy more than an individual life, but he can help; to make the particular stock to which he belongs more or less beery, or fleshly, or watery, and so on, by the way he feeds., We know the effect the feeding of animals has on their temper and very natures ; how the dog fed on raw meat and chained up so that he cannot work off the superfluous nitrogenised material by exercise becomes a savage beast, while the same creature feed on bread-and-milk would be tame as a lamb. The same law of results is applicable to man, and every living organism is propagated "in its kind " with a physical and mental likeness. This is the underlying principle of development. Happily the truth is beginning, though slowly and imperfectly, to find a recognition it has long been denied. It is possible that in the natural desire to secure the best and purest supplies of food and drink for man, we are' pushing matters a little to extremes and becoming ridiculous. Utopia ia a long way off, and r " Hygeia " has not yet been built. It is, however, desirable that we should aim high and make the teachings of physiological science the precepts of our daily life and conduct. We may not be able to reach pur ideal, but progress 1 will be advanced by striving to make its attainment an object. " What to eat, drink and avoid " is a rational proposition ; and if some of Us are becoming a little unreasonable in the attempt to solve it, at least we are on the right road, and ought te be encouraged rather than abashed by the, not unkindly, criticism our endeavors are calling forth.

" FEEDING LUNATICS. " The Lancet says we gladly print a letter from Dr. Cobbold, who, after an able and meritorious career as "assistant medical officer " in some of the largest and bebt conducted Asylums for lunatics in this country, has been appointed medical superintendent of Earlswood, in succession to Dr. Grabham, who has been chosen as inspector of lunatics in New Zealand. Dr.' Oobbold's communication is on the " feeding of lunatics," and he writes with the authority of a' man who has had very extended experience in the performance of a most unpleasant duty. We respect his opinion, and are not only willing, but anxious, to give it the full weight it deserves. Nevertheless, we must be pxcused for adhering to the view, rather implied than expressed in our recent annotation, to the effect that it is because the task of inducing lunatics to feed naturally is left to attendants the need for forcible feeding arises. We do not blame the medical officers. When the active superintendence of some five hundred insane persons is expected of a medical man, it is no reflection on his zeal or skill that he cannot possibly fulfil the requirement. It would be absurd to say that forcible feeding is unnecessary. There are cases in ' which it is indispensable to use the tube. It is a very grave charge which Dr. Cobbold brings against his confreres when he says, "I have' reason to fear that in some instances the patient's life has been sacrificed rather than the doctor's opinion." We'had not the most remote suspicion that such an act of obstinacy had even been committed or was possible. We will go further, and, with all deference to Dr. Cobbold, affirm that we do not believe anything of the kind has ever occurred in a British asylum. If men err, they do so with the most earnest desire to benefit their patients ; and no medical man could possibly stand by and see a patient die of starvation rather than use the tube. At the same time, we believe there is far too much feeding in asylums, simply because, although a most 'unpleasant and thankless operation, it is more rapidly performed than the task of inducing a perverse lunatic to eat or drink. There is no moment to spare in a large asylum. Certain cases, of course, require the tube, but these are few. It is not because they have no- bad cases that some superintendents do not 'require to feed by force, .but because they have the' tact and time to exert that personal influence which no lunatic except the wholly self-engrossed can possibly j resist.

Gilhooly strolled , into Mose Schaumburg's stare on Austin avenue, and after looking round he' said to Mose, who, rubbing his hands, asked him' what he wanted. " Will you, be kind, enough to bring me a glass of beer, some fried beefsteak with onions, some fried potatoes and some boiled cabbage ? " replied Gilhooly. " Misther Gilhooly, mine 'store, va'sh not a restaurant." '''What the devil' ha'ye I got' to do with" that. You have got fi sign' thaji'rea'ds, *If you don't see what you i want; ask' for.it.' , I wa J nt some grub. I don't see it, so I ask for it, and instead of bringing on the grub yoti %o to telling me what your pc- , cupation is, as if , I cared a fcent. Why ' don't you talte .down your sign ? " When last seen Mose was standing in a thoughtful attitude in front of that Bign M absorbed in profound con* lemplatibn. — Texas, Sifting*.'