Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-08-17

ally consisting of candle-box and huge
canvass umbrella. They deal principally in
chocolate, coffee, tortillas, &C.. the latter is
the principal article of diet among the poor;
for picayune, C IA cents,) enough can be
obtained to last them all day Tortillas are
cakes made of corn soaked and mashed; the
natives have kind of sandwich arrangement
consisting of layer of tortillas and layer
of tomatoes. Knives and forks are unused
very many, indeed, would not know what
they were for. When the common class dine
they sit cross legged on box and keep up a
steady run of tortllas to the mouth, remind
ing one of Chinaman eating rice with chop
sticks. This is one of the best meat mar
kets to be found between the United States
and the Equator. The beef is rich and Juicy,
and only five or six cents per.pound. Banan-
as and plantains of course abound; but few
are eaten raw, as they are considered I'M
healthy that way. Shrimps of large size are
common article of food, and they are quite
palatable. But the natural Mexican dish is
black beans; they form part of every meal,
morning, noon and night; they remind one
of the brown bread and baked beans of the
Bostonians.
The donkey is universally used as a beast
of burden. Instead of having cart they
strap the load on his back. These donkeys
are but little larger than good sized New
Foundland dog. 1t is quite comcal to see
them 60 round with a load of hay on their
back that almost hides them from view. They
carry all the water obtained from the river
that is used in the city by means of breakers
or kegs strapped to their sides. There are but
two or three horses in the town, and they be-
long to the army; this town does not boast of
single carriage.
A stranger here, is struck with the unusual
number of blind persons, and is told that it is
to be attributed to the glare of the sun on the
houses, which are all painted yellow, color
said to be prescribed by law. The principal
building is the Cathedral, which during the
siege was used as hospital, filed chiefly
with patients suffering from smallpox, which
disease at that time prevailed. Education Is
better attended too inland than on the coast
At Victoria few miles up the river there is
a fine school. Victoria is said to be one of
the most beautiful little towns in Mexico.
MINERAL WEALTH.
The country around Tampico is rich, not
only in vegetable but mineral productions.
| Some fifteen leagues back of this city is a
petroleum spring SO rich in its supply that the
poor in its vicinity use it in its crude state fol
domestic purposes.
A silver mine was started in 1868 by a
Spaniard, and in little over year it i.
said that it yielded to the owner S., 900, 000
| The owner returned with his family to Europe
| and plunged into the designations of Paris.
| In the course of twelve months he died, and
last year his heirs run through with what was
left of his fortune. His two sons returned
here to start the mine, but having no money
they found it impossible to make a beginning
owing to the high price of labor, great cos,
of transportation to and from the mine, &c.
They are now trying to sell shares to raise
| money to renew the work. If the mine was
just north Of the Rio Grande, within the limits
Of the United States, they would have no diff
fculty in selling shares. / understand one
reason why the work in mines is often dis
| continued is because the government exacts
twenty-five cents on every dollar produced
beside this, the mines and conveyances to and
fro, have to be guarded, and the guards make
exorbitant charges which make another big
hole in the dollar; then again is the costly
transportation charges of food, machinery &c.
to the mines, and of freight back; then comes
an export duty Of eight per cent.,-these and
other expenses make quite a formidable
drawback upon mining enterprise. If the
United States had control of the mining re-
| gions, land protection and encouragement were
excited rush to the mines which would leave
the famed White Pine fever in the shade.
The principal articles of export of the
place are logwood, hemp, hides, horn, cochi-
neal &c.
Tampico labors under the great disadvan-
tage of having harbor both poor and un-
certain; the town is some eight miles from
the mouth of the river, and the amount of
water on the bar varies at different seasons of
the year; sometimes as low as four feet and
then after heavy rains occasionally reaching
q depth of sixteen feet, and the channel con-
tinually shifting. Vessels of light draft of
water, that are able to cross the bar and come
up to the town, have to lie on the side of the
river opposite, as, at the only wharf it boasts,
the water is generally not over a couple of
feet or SO deep. Of course lighters have to
be resorted to in loading and unloading YES
sells. As an instance of the uncertainty of
the bar would mention that cutter from
the Nipsic man Of war came up to town and
expected to return the next morning; but they
learned that such heavy sea had arisen at
the bar that the cutter could not cross; so the
officers and crew were compelled to remain
fnur daya hot