New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-02-20
MEXICO.

lPROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENCE
VERA CRUZ, Jan 14--It is long ride 10 the sea
port by the progressive torture OF dihRehCes' anu "
take steamer involves the task of special h'ssoh'
To reach the coast from the Capital requires neurT
fonr davs whereas bv rail it could be accomplished
80 IiI,ccnce ticket for Vera Cruz costs $26,
not INCLUDING from so TO $25, which traveller must
nay in heavy fare for very inferior patches OF rail-
xav aud in damages undergone by having TO STOP Nv
Unavailable hotels maintained in the interest OF inc
diligence enterprise. In all, these sums are douoe
the amount. at very utmost, which through pas
sepger even in Mexico should pay on the SVo mics VI
railroad so sadly needed to connect the cap'i WIN
the coast The general diligence company on"'0
with the higbwayman and soldier the uoniina'on y,
the road One may save his purse from the ou.ia"eu
thief nv handing over his dollars to the cashier OF
the diliOences taking in return check whcn en-
titles him to draw his money at any station on the
road But he does not quite escape thereby the legal
ized bighyayman who swiDdles in the name OF Dusl-
ness. It may be well for him TO pay
as he certainly does. no less than -
per 800 for banking with the diligence; Dut
the earnings of the company extend further even IN
30 small transaction as receiving SlOO In deposit
At Vera Cruz the traveller, who has paid hard DOL
lars and gold in Mexico receives at the dlngehce
Office the amount of his draft in menuda or small
silver money, upon which there exists discount OF
PEELED to give for gold which he can take with him
Ia Havana. rather than lose 10 cents on American
holf-dollars and something beside on WOrn-out me-
nuda The diligence pleads that 1t receives such
but this is evidently not the case and certainly
il need not be so. Foreigners and returning voy-
ayers generally bring with them SOLID money INTO
port upon which, if there be any discount the diu-
gence company to moral certainty are as ready 10
profit by it as they to steal It per cent by CIV
ing chicken money, as they very commonly II NOT
regularly do, TO the departing stranger 80, oil
things told the diligence company charges the enor
NOUS percentage of S so for banking 500 for the
snace of three DAVIS On the high road the diligence
way of making money would be called robbery
The sum which it exaCts per hundred is just about
what prudent traveller would find himself able
TO pay to the bandits as a polite tax IN
case his coach were stopped 1t represents MS good
an average as a robber on horseback can MAINTAIN
all the year round without resort to kidnapping.
am sorry that this species of business malpractice is
not limited to the Mexican diligence, and am also
somewhat assured that the resident
has no morality to teach his native brother 1t is pos
sibe TO give draft in Mexico for gold in Ncw-fork.
which a stranger highly and commercially recon-
mended to one of the most respectable houses OF
Vera Cruz by its Mexican correspondents, will have
to pay Il per cent TO have cashed in gold NO ehec
tive protest to this breach of hospitality ana COM
mercial honor can DO made when the steamer IS
about to sail One and half per cent are equally
made in the transaction by the merchant who draws
on New-York from Mexico, and the one who cashes
in Vera Cruz Now, while l have heard Of the bust
ness hospitality and commercial integrity Of the best
known houses of Vera Cruz, think the facts just
given viii serve an honest and needful purpose.
Preached Vera Cruz by the less-traveled Jalapa
route and though cautioned in Mexico against rob-
bers, suffered no moestaton at any point on the ap-
parently ellguarded road From this and other ex-
perienccs am led TO suppose that the actual danger
Of being robbed tho road to the coast is far less
than is represented through the distorting medium
of rumor For months robbery has occurred on
the high road to Vera Cruz week ago some
wretched foOtpads hungry and worthless, stopped
the coach beyond Jalapa and plundered it; but on
the same day ON American showed pistol and
frightened off the whole Of the bloOdleSs squad.
There is no interest in diligence travel profound
enough TO compensate in respect to scene or society,"
for the trial which the passenger experiences in the
hard patience of sitting rocking wheels on UNI
repaired roads. and going through the dust,
which is the special patent of some arid
passages of Anahuac scenery. The traveller reaches
port like a voyager after stonn like green rider
who has ridden for days poor saddle. lie has
thought little of footpads and the like for the dill
gence has taken hold Of him body and bones. The
diligence s accompanied by guard, and the story
of the best guardsmen-better, certainly, than tht
poltroons who used to wink at the robbery of the
Touca coaches from sheer want of spirit IneeC
not advertise the fact that Mexico is a country OF
mean and splendid contradictions, and such an
anomaly of life and scene may not be found else
where on this nlusory planet.
There is doubtless, a wild art in managing nine
twelve fourteen horses according to conditions OF
weather, and hence tho virtue must be allowed in
sinister fashion to the diligence company for keeping
alive in full animal vgor tie great Mule Principle
which so largely enters into the interior traffic of
Mexico. 1t is pleasant, beside to look ont of tho
window sometimes. The Chiquihuite hills spread
ont fiery wild gypsy garb of tropic weed and tange
Mountain outlines fencing the most barren land
scape have distant enchantment which twists all
their cactus crops into the tissue of crops. sight Of
the witch.mists on top of the cold Cumbres, and
among the earthquake flowers and fruits of that re-
eion ere we descend into lard of June weather is
interesting to be sure BGt 10 must be said after ALL
that the diligence itself is "a clumsy discount on the
imagination and the sight. The Jalapa route has
little part of the described, and so much the
worse for it. But view Of tie great mountain OF
the CofT6 de Peroto, distinguished for its
summit-rocks in the form of q trunk,
was cdifying in its way. There
is much plain and fatness annexed to the highway,
for the fields Ifeless now. Pcrote is quaint old
town with One-stories and oyer-going spous and
paved streets. Jalapa is imminent upon tie warm
tier of country, but the most handsome and enjoya-
bic town Of the ti@r0 templGda, being within sixty
miles Of the sea, and having the finest climate of
Mexico. along with buster population than usual.
1t has 10000 people, and surpasses the rival city of
the temperate tier, Orzava, in all but the pictur-
esqueness Of it's mountain situation.
The .TalaDa country ia very ferti1e md yoluahla