Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-06-10
A Mexican Diligence.

LcdNluS OAcAlCO lily ~ ZIG carly houA
of five in the morning, writes corre-
spondent of the New York Sun, my
c0mpdgnon de Uoyage and found our
selves at about seven o'clock at the rail-
way station of Cuantitlan, from which
the other line of diligencias runs to Pa
chuca. We spent the quarter of an
hour that elapsed before the starting of
our conveyance in drinking an excel
lent cup of coffee, which an old half
breed lady with formidable gray beard
and mustache was kind enough to make
for US with her own fair hands. Assure
means of gaining the good will Of an In
dian or Mestizo lady of undecided age
is by addressing her as senoritd or
miss" as the Mexicans among them
selves always use these diminutives.
You are not asked to wait a nl0nlent0,
but mOnlentito, and heard on one
occasion muleteer, who had lassoed a
most obstreperous mule that was en-
dangering every ones life within a ra-
dius of twenty yards, and almost kick
ing his own heels off, describe the vi
ciOus little brute as a muldtitd b0nititd
naanstta queriditita; or aragtice, Every
wee, tiny, little, pretty, tame, darling
mule"
While we were drinking our coffee,
which, by the way, is always excellent
in Mexico, the instrument Of torture
had been dragged out of its shed and
stood ready for the mules to be put to.
Let the reader imagine one of the New
York hotel stages deprived OF its springs
and driven for four or five years over
the bed of very rocky stream, and he
will be able to imagine what the Next
can diligencia is in its palmiest days.
AS, however, it always seems utterly
worn out and disorganized, such con-
ception of this vehicle would prove too
complimentary. In order to drag it over
the vilest roads in the world, two mules
are harnessed in the traces, four in front
of them, and three more as leaders. The
driver is a person of the greatest con-
sequence, fully impressed that the sole
and only raisOn d'etre of the diligenctd
is that there should be something for
him to drive. He is very handsomely
paid, drives remarkably well and snubs
the passengers in the most cavalier man.
ner. The regulation dress is a pair of
very tight leather trousers, with rows
of silver buttons down the outside of
the leg, a short coat, cut something in
the style OF a Spanish bull fighters bob
tail jacket, and an enormous white SON.
brero with a broad silver band. Beside
the driver sits-his assistant, who will in
time become a full-fedged driver, and
who already puts ON airs with the pas
sengers. Hanging on a row of pegs at
either side of the coach is a wonderful
collection of whips of every size and
weight, almost every mule having q
special lash. with which the driver or
his assistant belabors him with remark
able dexterity. Behind the drivers
seat runs o trench of some half q foot
in depth and width, filed with stones
like those used in macadamized roads.
These are for the special benefit of the
leading mules, who are almost out of
reach Of the whips. The assistant hurls
a stone from time to time with wonder
full accuracy, always hitting one mule
and carroming on the next Now and
then he jumps off the box, runs along
beside the mules and uses short whip
with great effect. II night should set
in before the diligencia reaches its des-
Hnafion, it is his duty to run with two
pitch pine torches, lighting up the
road. So that altogether his "a lot is
not a happy one" 1t might, perhaps,
be worth while for the members of the
New York Coaching Club, who find
so much difficulty in " tooling their
jsunty tits" around the corner at Ma