The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-28 00:00:00

MONDAY EVENING,

" This is the weed prairie.' It is misnamed. It is
the Gil den of God."

While journeying once or twice across the Jornada,
the author takes occasion to pourtray with his lu-
minous pencil the marvellous phenomena of the wil.
derness, illusions like the mirage, the fata morgana,
and the phantoms of the Brocken. Here is his ac-
count of

THE PILLARS OF SAND.
" A tropical sun glances up from the brilliant surface,
and we are almost blinded by the refracted rays. The
wind blows more lightly; and clouds of dust load the
air, sweeping slowly along!
" We push forward without guide or any object to in-
dicate our course. We ara soon in the midst of be-
wilderment. A scene of seeming enchantment springs
up around us. Vast towers of sand, borne up by the
whirl-blast, rise vertically to the sky. They move to
and fro over the plain. They are yellow and luminous.
The sun glistens among their floating crystals. They
move slowly, but they are approaching us!
" I behold them with feelings of awe. I have heard
of travellers lifted in their whirling vortex, and dashed
back again from fearful heights!
" The pack mule, frightened at the phenomenon,
breaks the lasso, and scampers away among the ridges.
Gods has galloped in pursuit. lam alone.
" Nine or ten gigantic columns now appear, and stalk
over the plain, circling gradually around me! There is
something unearthly in the appearance. They resemble
creatures of a phantom world. They seem endowed with
demon life!
" Two of them approach each other. There is a short
gusty struggle, that ends in their mutual destruction.
The sand is precipitated to the earth; and the dust floats
off in dim shapeless masses.
" Several have shut me within a space, and are slowly
closing. My dog howls and barks. My horse cowers
with affright, and shivers between my thighs, uttering
terrified expressions!
"I am irresolute. I sit in my saddle waiting the re-
sult, with an indescribable feeling. My ears are filled
with a buzzing sound, like the hum of machinery. My
eyes distort the natural hues into a fiery brightness.
Uy brain reels. Strange objects appear. The fever is
upon me!
" The laden currents clash in their wild torsion. lam
twisted round, and torn from my saddle—my eyes,
mouth, ears, are filled with dust. Sand, stones, and
branches strike me spitefully in the face; and I am flung
with violence to the earth!"
As really admirable examples of Captain Reid's skill
in sketching off the more remarkable specimens of
humanity discoverable in Northern Mexico, take these
three miniature daguerreotypes :
THE MEXICAN FREEBOOTER.

" Calzoneros, of green velveteen. These are cut after
the fashion of sailors trowsers—short waist, tight round
the hips and wide at the bottoms, where they,are strength-
ened by black leather, stamped and stitched ornament-
ally. The outer seams are split from hip to thigh,
slashed with braid, and set with rows of silver castle-
stops. These seams are open—for the evening is warm
--and underneath appear the ealzoncillos of white mus
lin, hanging in wide folds around the ankles. The boot
is of calf-skin, tanned but not blackened. It is reddish,
rounded at the toe, and carries a spur at least a pound
in weight, with a rowel three inches in diameter. The
spur is curiously fashioned, and fastened to the boot by
straps of stamped leather. Little bells—canipanillos—
bang from the teeth of the rowels, and tinkle at the
slightest motion of the foot. Look upwards. The cal-

soneros are not braced, but fastened at the waist by a
silken sash or scarf. It is scarlet. It is passed se►eral
times round the body, and made fast behind, where the
fringed ends hang gracefully over the left hip. There is
no vest. A jacket of dark cloth, embroidered and tightly
fitting; short behind—a la Gree-leaving the skirt to
puff out over the scarf. The shirt itself exhibits the
triumphant skill of some dark-eyed poblana. Over all
this is the broad brimmed shadowy sombrero—a heavy
hat of black glaze, with its thick band of sil►er bullion.
There are tags of the same metal stuck in the bides,
giving it an appearance altogether unique. Over one
shoulder is hanging—half folded—the picturesque
serape. A belt and pouch, an escapotte upon which the
hand is resting, a waist•belt with a pair of small pistols
stuck under it, a long Spanish knife suspended obliquely
across the left hip, complete the tout ensemble of him
whom I have chosen to describe."

THE TRAPPER.
"He stands, leaning on his long, straight rifle, looking
into the fire. He is six feet in his moceasons; and of a
build that suggests the idea of strength and Saxon an-
cestry. His arms are like young oaks; and his hand,
grasping the muzzle of his gun, is large, fleshless, and
muscular. His cheek is broad and firm. It is partially
covered by a bushy whisker, that meets over the chin,
and fringes all around the lips. It is neither fair or
nark ; but of a dull brown colour, lighter around the
mouth, where it has been bleached by the sun,' amber,'
and water. The eye is grey, or bluish grey, and slightly
curved at the corner. It is well set, and rarely wanders.
It seems to look into you, rather than at you. The hair
is brown, and of a medium length (cut no doubt on his
last visit to the trading post, or the settlements); and the
complexion, although dark as a mulatto, is only so from
tan. It was once fair—a blonde. The countenance is
not unprepossessing. It might to be styled handsome.
Its whole expression is bold, but good-humoured and
generous.

" The dress of the individual described is of home
manufacture—that is, of his home, the prairie, and the
wild mountain park—where the material has been
biought by a bullet from his rifle. It is the work of his
own hands—unless, indeed, he may be one who, in his
moments of lassitude, has shared his cabin with some
Indian damsel, Sioux, Crow, or Cheyenne.
" It consists of a hunting shirt of dressed deer-skin,
smoothed to the softness of a glove. Leggings reaching
to the waist, and moccasons of the same material—the
latter soled with the parfleche of the buffalo. The shirt
is belted at the waist, but open at the breast and throat,
where it fall► back into a graceful cape, just covering the
shoulders. Underneath is seen the undershirt, of a finer
material—the dressed skin of the antelope, or the fawn
of the fallow.deer. On his head is a racoon cap, with
the face of the animal looking to the front ; while the
barred tail hangs like a plume drooping down to his
left shoulder.

" His accoutrements are a bullet pouch, made from
the undressed skin of the mountain cat, and a huge
crescent-shaped horn, upon which he has carved many a
strange souvenir. His arms consist of a long knife, a
bowie, and a heavy pistol,; carefully secured by hol.
stern to the leathern belt around his waist. Add to this
a rifle nearly five feet long, taking ninety to the pound,
.and so straight, that the line of the barrel scarcely de-
flects from that of the butt!
" But little attention has been paid to ornament in
either his dress, arms, or equipments; and yet there is
a gracefulness in the hang of his tunic-like shirt—a sty-
lishness about the fringing of the cape and leggings, and
a jauntiness in the set of that coonskin cap, that shows
the wearer to be not altogether unmindful of his per-
sonal appearance. A small pouch or case, newly em-
oroidered with stained porcupine quills, hangs upon his
breast.

THE DELAWARE INDIAN.
" Most of them wore hunting shirts, not made of deer-
skin—like those of the whites—but of calico, pri❑ted in
bright patterns. This dress, handsomely fashioned and
fri❑ged, under the accoutrements of the Indian warrior,
presented a striking appearance. But that which chiefly
distinguished the costumes of both the Delaware and
Shawans, from that of their white allies, was the head-
dress. This was, in fact, a turban, formed by binding
the head with a scarf or kerchief of a brilliant colour—
such as may be seen in the dark creoles of Hayti. In
the group before me no two of these turbans were alike,
yet they were all of a similar character. The finest
were those made by the chequered kerchiefs of Madras.
Plumes surmounted them, of coloured feathers, from the
wing of the war eagle, or the blue plumage of the
gruya. _ _

"For the rest of their costume they wore deerskin
leggings and moceasons, nearly similar to those of the
trappers. The leggings of some were ornamented with
scalp locks along the outer seam, exhibiting a dark his-
tory of the wearer's prowess. I noticed that their moo-
casons were peculiar, differing altogether from those
worn by the Indians of the prairies. They were seamed
up the fronts, without braiding or ornament, and ga.
thered into a double row of plaits.

" The arms and equipments of these warrior men
were like those of the white hunters. They have long
since discarded the bow; and, in the management of the
rifle, most of them can ' draw a bead,' and hit plum
centre,' with any of their mountain associates. In ad-
dition to the firelock and knife, I noticed that they still
carried the ancient weapon of their race—the fearful
tomahawk."

Another characteristic, and unquestionably the most
extraordinary of all, by which Captain Mayne Reid
has already rendered himself conspicuous among our
writers of imagination, is that of a most fruitful,
we might almost say, Inexhaustible invention—inven-
tion, we mean, in regard to plot and incident.
Throughout the " Scalp-Huntrs ' the plot is per-
petually rising up to a climax, while its incidents are
mostly of a nature so marvellous in their horror as
to keep the reader in breathless suspense until
their termination. Of this a single extract will be the
most conclusive demonstration. Read, therefore, the
brief chapter here given, descriptive of

" A CONFLICT WITH CLOSED DOORS.
" Wane longer doubted what was to be the winding
up of the negotiation. The air was filled with the elec-
tricity of anger. Hate kindled hate, and vengeance
was burning in every eye.
" The Indians scowled at us, glancing malignantly out
of their oblique orbs. There was triumph, too, in their
looks, for they believed themselves far stronger than we!
" On the other side sat the hunters quivering under a
double indignation—l say double. I ca❑ hardly explain
what I mean. They had never before been so brayed by
Indians. They had all their lives been accustomed—
partly from bravado and partly from actual experience
—to consider the red men their inferiors in subtlety and
courage; and to be thus bearded by them filled the
hunters, as I have said, with a double indignation, It

That, N e take it, is a noble specimen of our author's
j eloquence, and one which sufficiently testifies his
capacity as the depictor of a landscape. Listen again
to his mention of
THE MARKET CRIES OF SANTA FE.
" The tortillera, kneeling by her metate, bruises the
boiled maize, claps it into thin cakes, flings it on the
heated stone, and then cries, Tortillas tortillas ca-
ientes!' The Cocinera stirs the peppery stew of chili
colesudo, lifts the red liquid in her wooden ladle, and in-
♦ites her customers by the expressions, Chile bueno! ex-
cellente !" Carbon! carbon!' cries the charcoal•burner.
' Aqua! aqua limpia!' shouts the aquadori. Pan fino!
pan blanco!' screams the biker; arid other cries from the
venders of atoM, huevos, and leche, are uttered in shrill,
discordant voices. Such are the voices of a Mexican
piazza.'"