Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-04
WHAT NAY BE SEEN AT SAN ANTONIO.

WHAT NAY BE SEEN AT SAN ANTONIO.
THE FAMOUS MARKEr-wHAT IT AMOUNTS TO
SUNDAY IN SAN ANTONIO-COCK-FIGHrS, FAN
DANGos, AND so oN-CURIoUs MANNERS AND
CUSTOMS.
Correspondence of The Star.l
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, Sept 1879.
The City Directory Of this place, in page OF
advice and information to pilgrims and strang-
ers, as to what they should see, and where they
may see 1t, and how, says: "One point should
never be neglected and that is the early morn
ing market on the Military Plaza. This will
require the tourist to rise at day break, but the
walk In the early morning, with the peculiar
sights to be enjoyed, will more than repay the
exertlon required" SO expecting the largest
kind of dividend of qualification / deducted
from my mornings sleep last Sunday two good
solid hours, and invested them In visit to this
market; not that Sunday Is the only market
day, it is an every morning occurrence; but
Sunday is the day TO see it at Its best and If
one desires to witness cock-f1ght, or a fan
dango, or DUCK against monte, or attend a the
atrtcal entertainment, or see crowd at the
springs, Sunday Of all others is the day to do it.
sunday the Dar-rO0mS are crowded aud the
churches are empty. The average San An
tonian prefers whisky to religion every time.
Up to as late as II O'Clock stores are open and
business as generally carried on as on week
day, and many OF them continue open through
the entire day. The Anglo Saxon leaven that
: h uld have leavened the whole mass has fallen
IL To the manners and habits and customs OF its
Mexican and German nelghbors. The Sunday
4 letter here as though 1t were never on the
statute book, and trials under 1T are perfect
farceS.
THE MILITARY PLAZA,
or Plaza de les Arn,as where this market Is held,
Is treeless CRASHES square, surrounded on its
four sides by places OF business, and II there Is
any hotter place In the whole world at noon on
a september day-exposed as this is to the d.
rect rays Of well nigh tropical sun, and shut
off from any chance of a breeze-it must be
one OF the other two plaZas here! This plaza Is
as old as the town, and was originally intended,
as its name indicates, for a parade and camp
ground, and was long 50 used, first by the Span
ish, then by the Mexican. and perhaps after
wards by the Texan soldiers; and the buildings
that then surrounded and enclosed 1T, some Of
which Still remain, we're used for barracks.
The picture that presented itself as / entered
the plaza was disappointment. l had antici-
pated seeing something very like the Preach
market OF New orleans, but the crowd of busy
buyers and sellers the hum Of animated traffic,
the gay and peculiar dresses of the people, and
the quantity and variety of articles displaye for
sale, so common there were conspicuous here
only Tor their absence. Six long rough board
tables, each covered with an oil cloth and presld-
ed over by Mexican bandits who looked as though
they would have as soon severed ones wind
pipe as have served him with coffee, and would
nave done one job as cheap as the other. first
attracted my attention. They were kind of out
door Mexican restaurants, where for from i've
cents to two bits one Can get breakfast. 1 did
not tarry at any Of these tables, for beside the
very strong indications Of dirt, the guests
already assembled around them looked very
like smallpox diSsemtnators-a disease quite
prevalent here-and | knew beforehand Cnat
TIE speclalties Of the Mexican cuisine are OF a
character that, unless one has a cast iron
stomach and copper lined throat, they had
best be let alone. But any tourist who has
al n h.NEn
to his hearts content and his stomach's diScon-
tent. Chile con carne, stew or hash OF peion
dog and chile pepper; tamales, dry hash of re-
llse meal chile pepper ana garlic, done up In
tillaS, corn cakes without salt, are dishes that
the American comes to eat only on the verge OF
starvation, and to admire, II he ever does, after
long and continued practice. AS passed on
found scattered around promlscuouSly small
tables, and blankets spread upon the ground, on
which were displayed In small piles such art-
came to held three piles of butter beans, six of
peppers, one OF corn and three OF okra. The
butter bean and Okra pile contained about one
good handful each, the pepper pile about twen-
piles were ten cents each. That's the way
things are sold here. There was not measure
Or pair OF scales In the whole market. II you
asked one OF these Merican traders how much
his wares were by the peck quart or pond, he
would say, Z" No underStande;;" but put your
finger on pile and say, 60 How muchey," and
he Is ready for a trade at once. found, after
pretty thorough canvass OF the whole plaza,
that this was representative stock. OF course
others varied from 1t somewhat. Some dealers,
beside the aforementioned articles, or in place
of them, had few radisheS, sweet potatoes,
water MELONS or stalks OF sugar cane. One had
a luxurious display of fish, three blue mud cats
each eight inches long. Fish is scarce article
here, except canned salmon, from the rivers OF
California, and dried cod and salt mackerel from
our 100000 dollar Canadian purchase. Another
dealer had three tin buckets Of semi-liqu
substance. that here passes for butter, in one of
which as passed negro customer had just
inserted his finger up to the second joint to
sample it. The supply OF chickens was the only
thing that was abundant. There were as IN thy
by side, full of them, and they were cheap, two
bits each, but they sell them only on the hoof,
and If the purchaser be as easy going as the
seller, he will eat them feathers and all. Be
sides this there were three loads of hay per-
haps ten OF wood, and two CT three Of apples
The slaLd tenders were nearly all Mexican,
few were German, and one, the Clerk IN the 1lsn
maj ket, was coiored. looked for
THE BEAUTIFUL BLACK-EYED sENORITA
who smiled and showed her regular, pearly
teeth that Mrs. SpoffOrd saw when here but
could not lind her, unless indeed she has grown
into the ugly two-hundred pounds of avoirdu-
pols That presided over one of the coffee stands.
This was all OF the celebrated Mexican mar
ket OF which had read SO much, and heard so
much, and expected so much. Why, If caterer
for hotel ike Wizards should forage through
be as Oliver Twist was, and the head of a tol-
cradle sized family would have bankrupted any
three of its stands to have filled his basket.
TEXAS MEXICANS.
A word about the Mexican residents OF this
place, as one sees them in the street, or at their
work. They are not particularly attractive;
Swarthy compleXlOned, hard featured, strangely
dressed, with decided tendency TO bright
colors and loud patterns in the women and to
broad Dr1mmed hats and cigarettes In the men:
but one must see them In their homes to know
them for what they are. Over on the west side
OF the san Pedro creek, along the Allan ditch
In "Ch1huahua," we will find them, in SETTLE
ment of their own, which is as distInctiyely
Mexican In all It's characteristics as any In the
land Of "God and liberty" This people has not
yet emerged from barbarlsm, OF, lat any rate have
not yet wiped themselves dry of many Of the
habits, characteristic and prejudices of that es-
tate. Their jacals, or huts, have mud walls and
brush roofs; they are destitute OF windows, and
the aperture which serves for door Is closed
II at all, only by calico curtain. They afford
their inmates but poor protection against the
nj oil