Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-02-08

jahScus StTeaheu, StTIpeu duu Spoteeu
1t is said that pottery-making once re
quired some skill, but does not now
The poor devil of a native who ha.
only skill enough to make a hideous
carricature of a decent article, finds
the readiest sale for his wares, which
are sent to the United States, and
other semi-civilized regions to supply
the bric-a-brac demand for ancient
Aztec, Peruvian, Chinese aud Japa.
nese ware. Nearly every boat car
ries flowers for the city market. All
the year round here flowers grow and
blossom out of doors, and love for
them is a national passion. A sonora
may be ignorant, squallid and as low
as a brute, but she loves flowers, and
in her hands a few leaves, grasses and
buds will be formed into as tasty a
bouquet as ever was fashioned by ar
tistic florist.
/ Close to Lake Chalco is the town of
! Tuzcoco, which is half Indian, half
Mexican. That means dogs and dirt
in abundance. Just back of the town
are great heaps Of adobe, hundred or
more feet high, which are said to be
ruins OF pyramids ante-dating those
of Egypt. There is the ruin of an ac-
queduct, more massive than any I
have ever seen. There are circular
holes cat in the solid rock, with steps
leading from the top to the bottom,
which are supposed to have been els
terms. There are ruins of buildings
that covered acres. Three hundred
years ago they were there as they are
now. That is all that any one knows
"A bout the matter.
1t is surprising on what a small
piece of ground native will make a
living. Often his ranch is no bigger
than common town lot. But liv-
ing is simple matter with him. His
usual wants are something to wear and
having enough to celebrate an occa-
sional religious festival by getting glo-
riously drunk on pulque. Pulque is |
one of the native treasures. 1t is a |
liquor distilled from native plant. |
Whisky has no taste after it, and bran
dy is only a mild stimulant when it is
around. If a man drink it habitually
for Il month, he can't after that have his
pulse ever quickened by whisky. He
will be dead. 1t is warranted in week
to put shell on a mans skin so thick
that if a mule kicks him he will not
know it, unless he is looking at the
mule.
Ameca lies at the foot of Mr.. Popo-
half a days hors back ride
from Lake Cbalco; it is pretty assem-
blage of Indian huts, shaded by beauti-
full trees, with little irrigating streams
of clear water. running hap-hazzard all
through the town. Aneca is not a de-
sirable place to loiter in, for too many
stories are told of murdered men, and
others captured by veritable hauditta
and carried into the mountains to be {
lel for ransom. Some of the stories
ire doubtless true, but the dangers are 1
1t is the custom to mark S
with a cross the spot where a hnmau I
,eing meets violent death, and if by J
nance the cross is removed, some de- !
-oted Catholic will supply another in d
is place. Crosses are plenty on all /
highways and bv-ways of Mexico, but I
hen they are the records of generations
|eath-p place of men whose names are
DrgOtten. t
Coloradoans pride themselves on the 5
rand mountains in their State; but
IeXico is entitled to the cake. Pixies o
'eak is a baby beside Popocatepetl or il
IS twin Stztaccihuatl. They rear their
viii heads as far above timber line as h
likes Peak is above the foothills. One y
unset there made picture n, yer h
, be forgotten. Down in the valley
here / stood there was the gloom of
Dming night. The line Of the hori- =.
On shadow from the setting sun lay
alf way up the mountain side; smo- +
V clouds below it hid the base and
ne great peak hung in mid heaven; u
he lev summit was blaze of light, Ii
on vast fields of snow and 10
e that the setting sun painted with
old and crimson; the crags of lava sc
ere tinted with green, and overhang- OF
e clouds were purple and black; be- Is
W, the darkness grew deeper and u
le blazing, changing, mighty PopO-
.tepetl was a picture framed in the 7,
,ies. pl
I saw manufactures of glass, paper, gi
liz and soda; but they manufacture in OF
sleepy, lazy. domestic kind of way,
though il was done for amusement
stead of a business. ] had letters of ~
PRODUCTION to Senior Cervantes, the "
sner of a paper mill, and presented
ZEN. was received with all the ~
ately cordially imaginable, intro
iced to bis wife and daughter, shown
the mill and grounds, and got po