The Bossier banner., 1884-11-06
Monterey.

ana metropolis OF northern Mexico, is
pictures Iuely situated in sort of am
phitheatre among the mountains, their
huge, rugged forms towering over it in
every direction save the north, where
the valley widens out into the great
plains lying blue and purple in the dis
tance. Along the southern vista, be-
yond the green valley of the arroyo,
and the gentle foothills crowned with
white-towered chapels and suburban
villas, extends the main range of the
Sierra, here fanked on either side by
the bold. detached peaks of La lfitra
aud Silla (the Mitre and Saddle.) both
most appropriately named, as is made
evident at a glance. The Sierra proper
lifts itself in three distinct chains, one
Serrated line above another, until they
fairly seem to lean against the sky,
with the summer clouds drifting lazily
below. Especially is this true of an
early morning, when the rising mists
of the valley unite with them in pro-
ducing the fairy-like landscapes above
the clouds that form one of the chief
charms Of Alpine scenery. In gazing
down any OF the narrow streets, and
indeed in every view of Monterey, this
rugged background is ever before the
eyes, distance being almost annihilated
by the rareded atmosphere of the noun
tains.
To the newcomer, especially If escap-
ing from the rigors of q Northern
winter, the first night in Monterey
offers q scene of enchantment. The
narrow streets, with their dead walls Of
massive masonry, Hat-roofed. para
peted houses, with balconies and
windows barred with iron gratings: the
slouching groups of loungers at the
street corners, wrapped to their ewes in
gaudy serape, and shaded by sombreros
of immense dimensions-al have a de-
lightfully foreign look. Even the ex-
ecrable pavements over which he is tor
tured in a decrepit old hack propelled
by two deplorable specimens of horse
flesh, compared with which Don
QmSote's RozinaEte was noble steed,
are pronounced unique, as they un-
doubtedly are. But when the hotel is
reached and the traveller ushered into the
cool, shaded corridors Of the "Iturbider
or Monterey, with its Moorish arched
colonnades and courtyard filed with
tropic shrubbery-well, then his inn
pressions of Monterey are, perhaps, a
little more rose-coiored than they may
be day or two later, when the novelty
has little worn away. We might
almost say, ''an hour or two later,n for
one of these hostelries is located in the
convent of the Capuchinos, and, how
ever romantic the situation, the bare
stone cells, cement-hoored and window
less, afford but sorry guest chambers.
buried in their depths, lamp is neces-
sary even at midday; however, as the
artist observed, they are just the thing
for convention of photographers,
where each would have his own s'dark
ROOM without extra trouble or ex-
pense.
Brought by the new railroad within
a few hours travel of the United
States, Monterey is yet essentially as
strange and foreign to American eyes
as if the broad Atlantic rolled between.
and it were in the heart of AndalusiaE
Spain. Not only are the scenery, arch
ltecture, language, very picturesque,
but the varied dress and customs of the
people, as exemplified in the daily pan
Drama of street life, are even more SO,
and are constant source of interest to
the new conner. The bells of the nu-
merous churches still keep up their con-
tinual jangle throughout the day; but
the shoyel-hatted padres and other
ensigned members of priesthood who
formerly constituted the most pictur-
esque figure of Mexican street life.
have disappeared before the laws of
reform. together with the contents and
monasteries that gave them shelter.
While the Church has thus gone to de-
cay, the State is flourishing at its ex-
pense, for soldiers are to be met with
everywhere, and uniforms are as COM
mon as in the strongest garrisoned
towns on the Continent. Hardly to be
distinguished from the regular troops
are the city police; clothed in sort of
undress uniform, and little brief au-
thority, armed with rusty old Toledo
in lieu of the regulation locust club, they
are veritable terror to evil-doers, and,
in truth, most formidable body of
men. To them it is due that Monterey
is to day the most quiet and ORDERLY of
cities; indeed, more so than most towns
of its size in the United States. Then
there are the cargadores, or porters,
who, numbered and licensed like draws,
of which they are the only substitute,
may be seen bending under the most
tremendous burdens. Provided with
only a straw pad to protect the head,
they win move piano-fortes and other
heavy articles of furniture from one end
of the town to the other, and this with
apparent ease, and for the most trifing
compensation. Another interesting
character is the serene. or night watch
man. who is always going about with q
lantern, though, unlike his famous pre-
decessor, looking for a dishonest man.
In storm or calm, throughout the long
watches of the night, bis shrill voice
may be heard calling off the hours, with
the monotonous concluding formula of
SO todo es kuen0" (and all is well-a
custom brought down through force Of
tradition from the old Moorish times in
Spain, when every city was an armed
fortress, and its inhabitants lived in
constant dread of being surprised by
the turbaned moslem. Frank r
BTosCn. IN Hdrper's Magazine
The Mississippi Valley produces
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