Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1882-03-07
An Incident OF a Colombian Revo-
luton.

An Incident Of a Colombian Revo-
luton.
| Possibly the very Incidence
which 10 characteristic of the lower
class of society In the terra
coliente of Colombia renders the
men who compose it passively
good-natured at all times, save
when revolution rouses them
from the dolce far niente-to use
an ungrammatical phrase coined
in England-which, generally, is
the end and aim of existence
among them. The nearest swamp
OF guoduo (bamboo) furnishes the
needful timber for O dwelling;
these are bound together with the
1.-The bejucos (vines) climbing al
most every tree of the virgin forest,
and the structure is surmounted by
a thatch of palm leaves, which
will endure for a generation. His
abode once finished, q few hens
aud q hog or two domiciled with
the family, and an acre or so of
plantaiDs planted, what more
need of labor as the happy owner?
A gentleman of that country, q
physician, who had studied and re-
sided for many years at Paris, once
said to me that, were 1t to please
the Almighty to destroy the
bamboo and he plantain of his
native State-the glorious valley
of the Caucs-it would be forced to
progress. During the time that 1
Was in the Colombian service I
was once called upon to make q
reconnaissance for q road from
BogOta to the Orinoco valley. On
that occasion made the acquaint.
ance of gentleman who has since
then been my beau ideal-sO to
speak-of lsziness personified. This
person, a mestis0 with the blood of
oil three races In his veins, was re-
Ginning in chinchorrO-Or ham,
mock-which to the jewellers of
those torrid plains serves as a
couch by day, bed by night.
Amid the unkempt messes of his
tangled wool we're stuck several
cigarros. Beneath him smo!dered
"smudge," the smoke Of which
saved him the necessity of an oc-
casiOnal energetic movement for
the purpose of evading the gegen-
an almost microscopic gnat condu-
Give to proianity-and when he
was stung into spasmodic activity
he was actually too lazy to swear.
l arrived at the shed which was
his home, about noon, and called q |
halt for the purpose OF passing the |
hottest hours of the day In COM
parative comfort to myself, men,
aud beasts; he did not rise to meet
me-indeed, he scarcely returned
my buenos dids, SeHOr-nor did he
stir during my stay there of nearly |
four hours. 1 had observed with |
some curiosity the cigars stuck In
his wOoi-which caused him to
present the appearance of one hav-
ing his hair ''uone up" in papers,
when, as If divinipg my thought,
he raised q hand TO his head, and,
taking cigar, placed it With care.
full elaboration between two toes
of one of his feet; with an ease
born OF long practice. and with
out turning his head, be reached |
the foot down to the "smudge," lit
the Gig r, placed it in his mouth |
with the lighted end inwards Ia |
com non fashion in the hot cOun-
try of COlombia) and, with u bare.
~ perceptibte gIunt of satisfaction,
smoked the ante-prandial smoke |
of peace. In u Ego as you please"
match for iazlness l would back |
TINS fellow against all comers. I
nave traversed the Republic of CO.
lom bia from the vast plains OF o..
inoco to the Pacific, and from the
shore of the Caribbean to the Ecua.
dorian frontier, riding by day and
by night; have spent days and
weeks Ia the wilderness, accompa.
MED by mestizos of the class re-
TERED to; I 1--we vOyaged on the
great rivers " tn 6o0Gs-0r water
men-looked upon by their own
countrymen as quasi-savages, and |
l never found occasion to draw the |
side-arms which I at first habitu-
ally wore, save for the daily and |
irksome task of seeing that they
were in order, and which, for this
reason, at length discarded alto
gether. But when revolution is |
rag ng throughout the land all Ia
cnanged. Then the dormant evil
passion, inh erited fro N some Span.
ish so der, himself Of the hybrid
race of the lower class of southern
spain, by instinct and habit as
from pleasure given to cruelty;
from a Guinea negro, scarceiy
more of u brute than his descend
ant, and from some indigeD, whose
religion consisted in human sacri-
fce-ceme to the surface; the indo-
lent 0eOa becomes, at such times,
II human tiger. Petty quarrels of
the neighborhood are RENE no bered
and avenged, fearfully at times,
when the offender has espoused
the opposite side in the internecine
struggle. During the civil war of
1873 no other instance Of shocking
barbarity beside that which shall
presently Relate, came to my
knowledge; but, within the mem
Dry of men still living, horrors
such as we rarely read of have been
not unc0mm In that fair land.
The language of the lower order of
Colon pians is provincial rather
than Castillian. During u revOiu-
ton a band OF miscreants called
themselves perreristds-the term
being derived from perrer0-in the
Cauca signifying the stick with
/ sak Il 4.