Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-03-03
}. THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 3, 1859.
rennnnlepee csrrespondenee.

from the Cleveland Printer, s. RACE, announces
his arrival at Hthe Incompatible city of Suchil,
which consists of about two hOtels-one of
which is kept by DUDLEY BOND, formerly of
Cleveland-one store, and eight or ten one story
ten by twelve thatched huts, and some hundred
Mexican Indians. It is at the head of steam
navigation on the Coatzacoalcos river, some
95 miles from its mouth, and 20 miles from Min
ethan"
"Mr. STEVENS is here looking finely, and
we leave in the morning for Almalaya, 60
miles, on horseback, through pretty rough
country, where we shall find others of the
Cleveland boys, and much finer country"
"Among the passengers from New Orleans
were Mr. and Mrs. BEN. Brown and child,
formerly of Cleveland, en- route to California
They left at noon to-day on mules for Cheyalia,
80 miles, where they will probably arrive by
midnight"
Another letter from Suchil says;
"The scenery that cheered the way along the
| Coatzacoalcos was grand and diversified, low
banks, seeming masses of vegetation, and high,
beautiful bluffs, while every little distance,
beautiful miniature rivers would empty their
| limpid waters into the great stream that bore
our little boat onwards Many strange trees
overhung the river, presenting their tempting
clusters of flowers and mellow, luscious-lo6king
| fruits, as offerings to any one that would stop
| to gather them-on We went. Monkeys would
chatter at us from the high branches of the
trees, and many bullet regret to say, was
sent into their coverts, but happily without eff
feet. Parrots and toucans; blue cranes and
white ones, red birds and green ones, divided
the attention of the passengers, with alligators
and stone formations, all alike curiosities to
persons 70. the first time travelling in the troP-
| les"
Chow you would enjoy half an hour on the
hill here, at Suchil, alter nightfal A thou
sand strange voices are shouting through the
wilderness, and thousand kindred voices re-
ply; one of the strangest notes ever heard, re-
veTberated through the forest to night. 1t sound
ed exactly like the alarm shrek of the locomo-
| tive whistle, and felt when heard it as if
on a railroad train in the West, when the steam
whistle was yelling out its warning note to
cattle on the track This scream belongs to a
bird, of which 1 could obtain no description
Whatever. They tell me that the whistle is O
certain indication of "falling weather." and as
far as my limited experience goes, 1 should say
that the noisy little fellow was weather witch
But promised you a half hour on the hill;
listen. The deep baying of the tiger, or leop
ard, will startle colony of monkeys, and they
will scream and chatter, while the familiar cry
of the whip'o-will mingles in to make might
dismal" to the ears of trose who have no taste
for noisy, animated nature. But at about 9
o'clock the din ceases, and the wild children Of
| 4I ,o.- Il
then the owl shrieks out his solemn call, or
some wandering lion breaks the silence by his
peculiar yell"
''There are some native laborers working here
to-day, with nothing in the shape Of clothing on
them, except long narrow scarfs girded about
their loins They are splendidly built men, and
excited universal admiration as they passed and
repasspd, bearing tremendous burdens up the
hill No one thought of the scantiness of their
wardrobes then. The whole weight Of their
burden would be suspended by strap that pass
ed under it and across their foreheads | saw
weights of from 400 TO 500 pounds carried in
this way, the entire strain being on the head
What tremendously thick skulls these fellows
must havel"
"Many of the Aztec women have beautiful
hair, long, black and glossy. One of the women
employed in the hotel hele, wears her hair so
long, E1dE IL crosses Oh QaCk ike 4 pair OF
suspeuders, and is then wrapped "round and
round" her girde in handsome braid, until the
girdle is quite hidden by the luxurious growth. -
To-day, for the first time, we had q view of
the "army ant"-and / can assure you there
was an army of them. The term million will
fail altogether in giving you any idea of their
number, or, in other words, the strength of the
army. The habits of the army ant are very Gu
rious, and must confess know but little Of
them Their march is straightforward; nothing
impedes their progress but water and 1 have
/ been told many wonderful stories about their
building bridges and crossing streams, that viii
tell again when mine own eyes have realized
their truth. These ants are about as large as
our brown ant, and about the same color. In
} their march they destroy all vermin they en-
counter-making their visitations q sort OF
r questionable blessing. l say questionable, for
they signaized their presence here by routing
US all out of our beds long before day. They
have been marching ever since, and STILL at 10
O'Clock this morning the column is broad as ever,
though untold billions have passed.
Speaking of army ants, reminds me Of mon
keys though you may fail to see the connection
between the two subjects The following anec
dote was told meby an eye witness: A drove si
monkey reached the banks of deep but narrow
stream. On the other side, In tempting view,
hung clusters of their favorite fruits. 1t may
have been instinct that prompted the act, but
it seemed more of reason, as the monkeys, with
out moments hesitation, formed an e. air line,
by suspending themselves head to tail, one to
another, from the branches of an overhanging
tree. AS soon as the line was long enough, the
lowest monkey, by pushing on the ground,
gave the animated cable pendulum motion
which was increased by the graceful sway the
others gave their elastic forms. At last the bot
: tom monkey caught the bough of tree on the
other side. Instantly, the monkey that had
been topmost, released his hold, and the whole
crowd were climbing for the fruit, as proud as
Alexander after his greatest victory"