Middletown transcript., 1881-01-07
Correspondence of The Transcript
A SHORT SOJOURN IN PACHUCA.


that our destination is up in the mouI
tains, it is quite evident when we gt
there that for once, if never before, W
are up in the world; almost hig
enough in truth to need no weather pre-
phet to foretell the changes that affiic
mortals dwelling on lower plains, an
quite enough to warrant the sartofia
paradox of wearing an ulster in tn
heart Of the tropics, in midsummer
Odd, isn't it, Mr.. Editor, that the neal
er you get to the sun the colder yol
are? Could you chance to arrive quit
at it, you would freeze to death in you
ulster.
For all that this town is up in tn
clouds, it yet lies in narrow valley, o
rocky gorge, watered by mountain
stream. The houses are placed in tn,
valleys center, and up the sides at ever,
angle and at every elevation, until tn,
dwellings seem as if glued or tied t.
the mountain side so lofty do the top
most come to be that the backyard il
nearly on top the house, and the cellar
about where the garret should be. A
point that commends these airy habita.
tiOns-not to mention an atmosphere
unimpeachable, and prospect unsur.
passed-is that their situation discour-
ages the tax-collector, the politician and
the Iightning-rod man.
1t is an English settlement, chiefly
made up of Cornishmen who have the
national disregard of the prOpriety of
the letter H, which makes the Cockney's
'ome hever dear to the true Britain. I
certainly never shall forget the effect
upon me of a feryent prayer delivered
in this fearfully-clipped dialect by a
pious exile who besought the "Hal-
mighty Father to 'ear his prayer. "
Though not a pietist it really shocked
my orthodox ears. Besides this levity
in their aitches, they also speak fright
full lingo, compared with which, 'pidgin'
English is Attic Greek for euphony,
which they style the Captain jack
language. But that it was invented
long before oar hero of the lava beds, I
should say it was called after his we'll
remembered, handsome face ! 1t would
have 'stumped' Sir VIM. Jones or Elihu
Burritt. wish I'd put a yard or so of
it in pickle for the edifcation of the
TRANSCRIPTS readers but I didn't.
As is well known, Mexico and Peru
were for over three hundred years, the
chief sources of silver for the world.
The mines at Pachuca are among the
richest in the Republic, and were
wrought in ancient times by the Aztecs,
then later by the Spaniards, followed by
the modern Mexicans, whence they have
largely fallen into the hands of foreign
capitalists, principally English. Under
native management their full produc-
tiveness was not realized, so clumsy and
inadequate was the machinery used.
English owners have, in recent years,
introduced more improved methods for
mining and reducing the ore, and the
native workers are beginning to follow
their example to some extent, though
they are still mined by a miserable sys-
TEN Of peonage, a species Of slavery, in
which the miserable wretches of the
lower classes of Mexican Indians labor
in great degradation and poverty.
The common ore is the sulphide of
silver which is reduced in the usual man.
ner by amalgamation. The manner of
mixing the crushed ore with the mercu-
ry is a trife barbarous. After passing
through the several stages of the opera
tion, the pulverized ore, now wet and
doughy, is thrown upon the ground
within large inclosure and numbers of
horses are turned into it in order that
by a perpetual walk around in the valu-
BILE mire they may thoroughly stir the
mass and beget an admixture of the sill
yer and the mercury. The result, so
far as the poor equines are concerned,
any Eastern Shoreman who has swal-
lowed calomel sufficient to make four
gross Of thermometers, can readily fore
see their hoofs absorb the mercury till
ready to drop off and they perish miser-
ably.
Lack of machinery is not the only or
the greatest drawback to the develop
ment Of these Mexican silver stores of
fabulous wealth foreign brains and
foreign purses might well supply the
lack, but that the revolutionary policy
of the government has hitherto almost
discouraged the attempts by its
system Of legalized robbery known as
forced loans," beneath which shallow
pretence Of national necessity, the capi-
talist, is fieeced till interest and princi-
pal disappear in the insatiate NAV of |
war. Enterprising operators might suf-
fer this enforced blood letting, once, say
every four years, or even once every
year, and set the outlay down to the
credit of profit and loss. But in this
Drecocious land, where fruits, trees,
feyers and snakes come to
such perfection, reyolutionsare frequent
IS the seasons, and as each one is poorer
han it's predecessor its demands upon
he Golfers of the merchant are depict
ng altogether So rather than be plum
Tered in this fashion by each barbaric
Alaric who rides over the land, they
lllow their rich possessions to lie idle.
They expect to be robbed by maraud-
ng bands who steal professedly, and not
borrow never to pay, as their less frank
.Ompatriots do, and take precautions ac-
ordingly, living often in embattled cas-
les fanked with strong keeps, filled with
rms, culverin mounted, portcullis
Doised, or, perhaps, veritably dwelling
n ''mOated grange''-in short, quite like
Feudal barons of the thirteenth century.