The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-03-13

every turn with the chaIlenge-'Io look ou
thar, .strangerp quickly followed Ivy bul
let. if they delayed to shout their name ano
calling. There was nothing to be bad to
eat, drink, or smoke, and the general uspec
Of affairs was cherries enough. Presently
in rode sixty horsemen, gauDt, bony woods
men ofthe Far West, dressed in skins, witt
heavy boards and weIl.appoin,ed rifles. fel.
lows who wouldn't stick at scalping an In.
dian or dinner of muIe-ment,' and who
belonged to the volunteer battalion, in which
they had enrolled themselves more by way
OF recreation than for glory or patriotism.
"Sailor though he is, Mr.. Wise troubles
his reader very little with nautical matters
During few weeks he was a good deal
afoat, having succeeded to the Command o.
the ROsita. forty ton schooner, with q cre.-
e 4fseen saiiQrsaa small boz md xnidla0d
Eeo6k, WHO bad once been vN666 b0ltI &-wash.
Ter Of Liverpool liner, with glass nubs on
de cabin doors;' but otherwise most Of his
time seems to have been spent on shore, RI
ding. shooting, and love e-fnaking, doing mil
itary duty in garrison at Mazatlan, throwing
up Notifications, and surprising parties OF
Mexcans, whose fear Of the Gringos was
most intense and ludicrOus. In their civil
wars, and when contending with the Span
iards for their independence, the Mexicans
have occasionally fought doggedly, although
never skilful'y; but when opposed to COM
batants Of the Anglo Saxon race, they have
invariably shown themselves arrant towards.
Although the soldiers Of the States have
even less military discipline than those of
Mexico, the bodily strength. skill with the
rife, intrepidity, and self-reIiance Of the for
mer, would render them formidable oppo-
nents even to well-drilled European troops.
As to the MeXicans, no matter how great
the numerical odds in their favor, they nev-
er could or would stand against the hardy
Yankee volunteers.
"a most mrth-provoking specimen Of
American character. But we must return
to our friend aud favorite, Lieutenant Wise,
who is truly Yankee Crichton in a pea
jacket. Besides his nautical skill, and the
lingual accomplishments already adverted
to, he is Nimrod in the bunting field, n
Centaur on horseback, a Vestris in the
mazes Of the dance. Lovers of wild spor,
in the West will Iuxuriate in his descrip-
tons Of hunting exploits, Of his combats
with grizzly bears offourteen hundred pounds
weight, and his chase Of an antelope whose
fore-leg he had nearly severed from its
shoulder with a rifle-bullet, but which still
managed to run four leagues, the wounded
member 'traversing round in its fight like
the wheel, before receiving its death would
Unable to extract tithe of the passages
that tempt US, We hurry on to his departure
for the Mexican capital, whittier he was
sent early in the month Of May, as bearer
Of a dispatch, and in company with a Mexi-
can officer, with whom the Lieutenant was
Il e..
ciaLle, but who forfeited bis esteem by the
cool proposal Of f'iau ohoas tho ,~~o~o
ment, and whom he soon managed to leave
behind-no difficult matter, for the Mexican
was numbered with portmanteau and sump-
ter mule, whereas the Yankees sole bag
gage, as he himself informs us, consisted
of two shirts and a tooth brush. Thus
lightly equipped, his pace was verv rapid !;
not so much so, however, as to prevent his
noting down all that occurred bv The way
After La Barca and Buxton, it is a difficult
task to give novelty to an account Of Mexi-
can travel and peculiarities. Mr.. Wise
has surmounted the difficulty; and So great
is the freshness and originality Of his mar
rative, that we read it With as much yes,
and enjoyment as if it were the first in
ste ad of the twentieth book relating to Mex
leo which we have persued within the last
few years. His anecdotes are most racy
and piquant; his sketches Of Mexican wn-
men, officers, leperos, and of his own coun-
trymen i'm Mexico, are taken from The life
with truthful and vivid pencil.
"The Mexican capital was not a little
Alnericanized the period Of Mr.. Wise's
visit. The account he gives Of the state of
affairs there, is not very creditable to the
morals and tastes Of the victorious volun-
teers; and he expresses a natural doubt
whether the scenes there enacted will have
been beneficial to the thousands Of young
men whom the war had called TO Mexico.
The great hotels and coffee houses were
all under Yankee dominion, with Yankee
ice, and drinks, signs, manners, customs
and habits, 'as if the city had been from
time immemorial Yankeefied all over. in
stead of being only occupied short twelve.
month by the troops Debauchery Of eve
~ kind was rife, but gambling was the vice
that took the strongest hold. In the large
tavern or -estauratton where Mr.. Wise usu-
ally dined, in every nook from hall to attic,
with the exception Of the ea,ing-room, in the
corridors and on the landing places, gaming
tables were displayed"
"Surely there never was a jollier fellow
than Lieutenant Wise Of the United States
- gum uc Hust Uc,
a real bonus soc,us across a Julep, a very
-torehouse Of fun. frolic and and adyen-
ture. So well do We Ike his society, that
we are only sorry we cannot at present ac-
company him further, on bis rsmhles, or
return with him tn Mazatlan. where he ar
rived at a flying gallon, after a ride of
twenty-five hundred miles on horseback
the last one hundred and twelve leagues in
ffiy-three hours (said to be the quickest
trip on record, to lie received bv a host
Of friends, and hy a Yankee band playing
Hail, Columl,isv aud sail with him to
Polynesia, and revisit Valparaiso and Ii
ma, and many other places. in all Of which
he manages heartily to amuse both him
self and bis reader, till he finally drops
anchor in the waters Of the Chesapeake,
arriving, with equal satisfaction to both
parties, at the end Of four hundred and
fifty pages, and fifty five thousand miles.
His book richly deserves an indepen-
dent notice."
MrRDER-We have Just been inform
ed, says the Louisiana Lake Provi.
dence) Journal, that another fearfu
tragedy was enacted last week on the
plantation Of Mr.. James HoIlys, abou
four miles below Monticello. The over
seer-his name we have been unable e
learn-took one of the negro men on t.
bridge in the neighborhood Of the plan
tation, where he fairly whipped him t
I l. ,-l 49, IT, III,