The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1847-01-29

strength, comfort and endurance.
and their adaptation to the climate
redeems all their inconveniences.-
As for sleeping rooms, | never have
discovered where they do sleep
but | have seen rich bedsteadS Of
metal and mahogany in the room
where the family lived. They have
singular mixture Of costly and
mean furniture-those, | mean, who
pretend to ostentatious living-the
common classes destitute of almost
any kind.
The cookery here is as distinct
i've from ours as anything else that
distinguishes them. A Kitchen re.
minds you of a blacksmith shop strip
ped of its tools, perhaps from the re-
semblance of the hearth to a forge
On it they build a little fire, and they
will cook dozen dishes, and with q
skill that meets the highest approval
of the palate. 1t is to be lamented
that no Homer lives to sing of their
chocolate. "Boquei de Gardiner
isn't touch to it 1t just wants
nothin' at all but to be slipped.
Next in order comes the market.
This takes us to one of the plazas-
vacant square-where lounging
people congregate, and business men
and everything but women, unless
they be market women. The mar
ket plaza is the liveliest place in
town, and as you wend your way
through the crowd, you are greeted
by the vendors with muncho 6u-
en0"-(very good,) their earnest
clamor, and a property with which
every article is invested. Here is
the butcher-just like every butch
er in the known world--only having
the advantage of color to hcighten
the ferocity of lis countcnance :
pass by him, for those tempting quar-
ters are villainous beef, and tough
as the strands of rope--none of it
is good in this country. Turn a.
round, and see what an array of va
rieties are spread upon mats-all in
long row, at the end Of which the
sellers are seated, from sun to sun,
and many, believe, make them their
nightly resting places. You have
all sexes, all ages, of ragged people,
and as little of everything Which the
market affords. Here is a rcspecta-
bic onion, white as the driven snow
only shilling. BY its side are
three sweet potatoes for two shil-
lings,-"muncho bucno, muncho bu-
eno;" but the price astonishes you.
And what is that on a mat further
back? That surely is meat but
whether kid, lamb or dug, you can't
tell. 1t is pig-carefully skinned
and very nice it is to broil. Their
mutton is delicious, and so is the kid.
This that you see in such great a.
bundance is the red pepper, an es-
scntiI in stews, and almost every
dish.
The mines Of Mexico may be val
liable, but her " donkeys" are far
more so to the MeXicans. In these
mountainous regions they could not
be dispensed with. AS this vicinity
is a barren waste, the people are put
to their trumps for wood. They
bring in on packs, small sticks and
brush four or five leagues from here,
and for two stout "armsfull' | paid
six shiIlings.
The most curious product of Gull
tivation here is the century plant,
called mag-ay.) After certain
time of growing it is tapped and
yields liquid that is drunk gener-
ally, called poOkhe, ESQ pronounced,
but | believe spelt poihi) a delicious
beverage, and substituted for drink
in the capitol where good water is
scarce. By some process, an ardent
drink is also manufactured from it.
1t makes beautiful hedge, and
flowers once in seven years.
.arioms.-All human happiness,
whether public or private, domestic
or national, is founded on individual
cultivation.
knowledge is pleasure as we'll as
power, and Of any two individuals in
society, whether rich or poor, the
more highly cultivated, other cir
cumstances being the same, will
possess the greater share of happi-
ness, and will be the more valuable
member of society.
Every good principle in society,
to do good efl,ectually and generally,
ought TO be eifectually and generally
applied; and, therefore, to raise any
society or nation to the highest de-
gree, individual cultivation should
be carried to the greatest practical
bic extent in all classes of society:
In all countries, education, in as
far as it has been carried, has had
an effect of rendering the poor con-
tent. The uned'scatcd are prone to
consider wealth and happiness as