The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1866-06-06
Letter about Mexico.

Letter about Mexico.
We are able this week to crafty the wish
>es ofour readers, and also ourselves, in pre-.
, Senting before them an interesting communi-
cation from Dr. Cunningham, who has just
returned from Mexico.
-, Mr. Ferris: Having recently retained from
Mexico, it has been suggested by some that /
publish some of my observations on that in
teresting Country in the columns ofyour pa
per. This, with your consent, now very
succinctly propose to do, promising that
shall not be able to communicate mach that
lis not already before the ru6lc.
To the. American traveller for the first TING
:. landed on the coast of Mexico, be is struck
with the novelty Of every thing he sees. Thc
buildings, farms, habits, dress, manners, re-
Iigion, everything he sees, are as different to
what he has been accustomed to lnthc South
Gern States as is the language Of the inhabl-
>tants The climate and soil, too, strikes him
as different to any he has seen. True, there
are hills and mountains, and valleys and rlv-
~ers, and these he has seen before, but they
were different, and the very soil seems differ
sent, and the very stone in the road, and the
wafer washed volcanic boudcrS, that every
where meets his eye, reminds him he is far
. from home. But will attempt no general!
description fthis lovely land, IN which God
p has done so much and man so httle.
From Vera Cruz We travelled By rai}through
the Terra Cahente as it is called, Or holland
to thepass Of the mountains, where the climate
becomes temperate thence to the city Of Cor
-~dova, by diligence, at AN average ascending
grade of thirty-fve feet per mile. This placed
us in the altitude Of perpetual spring.
The city of Corlova, situated IN this valley,
consisting Of -, 900 $4,000 inhabitants, is
built on the bank Of the Rio SAGA, a bold
mountain torrent IN the wet; bat as It's name
imports, without current in the dry season.
It's banks are high and preclpitous, and never
half filed by the greatest fEeshctS and with
out one foot Of alluvialr We did not learn ac-
curatey the extent Of this valley, but guess
it to average some ten or twelve miles IN
breadth, and some thirty five or forty miles
in length, and is two Thousand eight hundred
feet above tide water. Above this valley, as
it is called, but more properly plateau Of Ora
ziba, of equal or superior beauty a!Nd fertility
Then the valley of Pucbla. Here the inter
tropical culture ceases, and it is perhaps IN
- 'rivalled in the productions ofgraia especially
wheat and general pastuTage. But there be-
ing no government lands for colonization there,
we did not extend CIR observations in that di-
rection, but confined our ex limitations prln
cipally to the Cordova valley. The Govern
ment lands here are all surveyed, consisting
of two townships, and have been taken up,
and there will probably be in the next nine
months one hundred actual American settlers
in and around Carot!a. You have heard OF
1T. 4 town, or quite foUrishing village, you
say. We'll, | rode upon it before was aware
l was near it. 1t tcOnsists oftwo straw covered
huts, the plates supported by posts in the
ground, and the walls Of vertical poles or cane
without the interstices being daubed or step
ped with anything. This was CarlOtta when
I left.
In short excursion on foot and longer ones
on horseback, we tried to learn something 0.
the habits Of the natives, their mode of agrl
culture, and the capacity Of the soil The
natives are friendly, kind and hospitable tc
Americans, remarkably neat and cIeanIy,
though very simple in their DRESS and all thcll
labor and culture is on the most primitive
style I cannot imagine that it could have
been more so five hundred years ago. here
anything like culture has been bestowed OF
their little farms, they displayed beauty and
fertility unknown even in our sunny South
Coffee, tobacco, corn, beans, bananas, plan
.tains, pineapple and rice are their principle
PRODUCTIONS, anu III ISIdl!fe value SNGHNi pei
haps, in the order ! have mentioned. But
none of these crops reee+~e-tf5Tt amount oi
care or labor that we would call cultivation:
and vet the inhabitants seem to have an abun
dance Of supplies Of every kind to satisfy thci!
wants and frugal habits. forgot to mention
sugar cane, which grows to a perfection be-
,yond anything in our country. They arc
never hurried by the seasons, ard those whc
cultivate it tc any extent, are grinding thclI
cane every day in the year. Indeed there !S
there no end to the agricultural year as with
sls. And although you may be told that the
Girst of June and then again, perhaps, in NO
vember, is the best time to plant corn-yet
believe they plant at any and every period
The test farmers among them will alternate
fheir,crops three fines year thus: First, {
corn crop, which, as they take off, they vii
follow with tobacco this is followed with The
frecholdcr beam 4 staple article d food. Bu
with regard to the primitive and un!mproTet
condition of everything, it is enough to say
that We saw not plow, nor heard of nal
in this fertile valley In the towns and cite:
they use no corn bread, being supplied with
-four from Pueblo, while the native peon:
boil their corn soft in the ear, on stone, ther
bake thin cake and this is their far-famec
torteir, their only bread.
/ did not visit Mexico as an idle tourist, bu
but with an earnest desire, to the best of my
Judgment, to decide on subject paramount
to all others in this world to me, to my family
and posterity, the propriety Of emigratins
there. 1t was and is fearful question to de
eide. To expatriate ones self from country
he had loved, from all his former lifelong hab
its and associations, to take those he loved in
to a foreign land, among a different race o
men, among whom he could expect no socla
or religious afiiaton under SoTernmen