The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1883-08-11
CuEJUoUELLA, MEX. july %. 1852


CHEWoUELLA, MEX, July y, 1883.
EDITOR SENrINEL:-
fully intended to subscribe for the
SENrINEL,but not knowing where | would
locate, thought it best to wait until had
permanently settled. have travelled
over quite vast scope OF country, some
Of which is very line and some almost
entirely barren. Since entered Mexico
| lind the land here very much like that
OF Texas, some good and some common.
Yet it is very difficult to tell much about
the productive qualities OF the SOIL be-
cause there has been no rain here for
one year, until very recently. They are
expecting every day for the rainy season
to set in, which will last a month or
more, during which time there is little
or no travel, on account of rivers, creeks
and bogs. The general average OF corn
is from waist to head high, and has been
brought up to that by irrigation, land now
the rams VIII complete IT. The principal
products OF the country are corn, wheat,
oats and pepper. Occasionally can be
seen little cotton, and it is worth 25cts.
per pound. There Is no system in plant
ing crop here; they lay off no rows
nor plow any crop; they break the land
with oxen and forked sticks. | haveseen
put one Mexican usinga plow since
have been here. They cut their wheat
with reap hooks,and it takes six or eight
good hands all day to cut one acre. |
have not yet been able to learn how they
gather their corn There is more red
pepper grown here than any thing else,
and IN every town there are more stands
Tor the sale of it, than any other article !;
in fact, the natives use it instead of ba-
con. They gather and use it while in
the green state-they cook hardly any
thing without mixing it in. Bacon here
IS worth 5Octs per pound, and hams are
worth Scots. per pound but there are
many articles that are quite cheap,
The houses are made in the shape of a
hollow square and sometimes (and most
of them have two squares is used
for wagons, and the other is called cor
allie, and'uSed for stock. Their dwellings
ard adobe houses, made of soft brick II
by Is inches; there is no protection to
them around the coralle, land it is strange
TO me that they do not wash down, but
they do not. After the wall is built they
put poles across, lay on small sticks and
cover them with grass or straw. They
have kind of dirt here which, wnen
wet looks very much like slate, and runs
together q kind of cement, with which
they finish the roof. am informed that
some houses that have been built for an
hundred years, were never known to leak.
Around the first square they put up from
eight to fifteen rooms, none OF which are
hoored, save in q few instances where the
owners are very rich, then they will have
one or two tioored with brick or stone
Tor the use OF their families. The others
are used for their peones. Almost half
of the inhabitants are peones or what we
would call slaves. The way they obtain
these peones is, to get them in debt from
two to five dollars, and if they cannot
pay it, the creditor can take them to
work it out at four clackers pr day,
which is Gets, and when they have near
" worked it out, you can sell item any
thing to put them back into bondage |
The law is. when any one Iails TO nav