Daily Yellowstone journal., 1884-05-17
WITHOUT RIVERS OR ROADS.
Mckee Durlng the Raiuy Seasons.
The Fantastic DarrA

A6AhGO u10Et08 h80 1Sos9y 0So8V0sss
The Fantastic Barre
Letter in New York Worid.l
Not only is Mexico without rivers,
but il is without roads. Cortez made
Q good artificial road from Vera Cruz
up to Mexico $50 years ago, and this is
still in use for the occasional wagon.
But the employment Of wagons for
transporting either freight or passen-
gers is scarcely known in Mexico. The
reason for this doubtless is that in the
rainy season-June to September, in
clusive-th roads are well nigh i'm.
passable.
Mules have been known to DO
drowned in the very streets of this city
stuck in the mud ut first, and as they
struggled to get free at last swallowed
up out of sight. "You see that place
in the street Wonder. where il is i'm
proved?" asked an acquaintance Of me
the other day, indicating spot on the
next block.
said yes.
That's bad place in the rainy sea-
son, he continued. Il once saw .
team of forty mules stalled there while
trying to draw an empty wagon"
As result of this tenacious quality
OF the soil in heavy rains, in u country
where it rains every day for four
iaonths. the most o. the transportation
Mexico has always been done by
il,aealeros and donkeys. The huacal-
ros still do the most of it, These are
a ters, native MeXicans, with q hun
u clto q hundred and fifty pounds OF
e staple or merchandise strapped
.Eun each of their backs. These
snake very long journeys, sometimes
alone and sometimes IN large
arties, and they carry every imaginable
hing that is grown or used in the coun-
~. some of these are women and
,ome children. Whoever rides out OF
this cit, early any morning on the road
by which Cortez fought his wayin shall
see hundreds of these copper-colored
poems with strings of live chickens.
geese and turkeys around their necks
and hanging head downward. They
na,e brought this live freight ten,
twenty. thirty, fifty miles, and still they
20 much of the time upon short.step.
ping trot that must carry them five or
six miles every hour. ! would like to
Jack healthy huacalero to go-as-you.
please against howell.
Some of these porters are laden with
green grass for the city horses these
women and girls, mostly, some with
charcoal, the only fuel of the country !:
me with wheat or bags of corn, some
with co,oanuts. A strong man here
and there will carry o great load Of
earthen pots and round jugs-half a
cart-load-tied on in some mysterious
manner by string that goes around
each of the out jugs-and / have seen
this porter sit by the wayside to rest,
|. aiming back against his thirty cubic
feet OF crockery cargo that lowered far
above his head, and sticking his legs
straight ont before him-the only way
to disptse of them. Ihave wished that
could zee him get up, but / never
!,appensd to be present when that con.
ulsion took place.
The donkey, or burro, trains form m
auxiliary to the landscape that is quite
as pictcrial and more fantastic. They
carry everything that the huacalero,
ont. This ! tile burro, with his aver.
age loa.l, looks very much like cat
IT, Il between two bundles of wheat.
COX ont the window In the morning
ally aid You shall see half dozei,
burros up and down the street hating
before the doors and delivering milk.
he great milk.cans, two or three Of
them, strapped to each Of his sides.
onsidering that Mexico is ~ denss "
populated a. the United states, it be.
ONES obvious that this transportation
10y tot pg must be quite in efficient. Ihe
r. ult hes always been psucity Of the ex.
chan % Of different products that leaves
.Mrxico. in regard to luxury, merely
hslf-civilized. The Pacific slope Of
the Sie,ras grows fruits which the PEG.
pie Of the City OF Mexico never taste
and the manufactures If one state ore
often quite unknown to those of an.
,ther.
In . trip last week over the divide
$50 miles towards the Pacific. on the
Mexican National, the train took on q,
one Of the stations ton or 80 Of hand
some copper kettles, pans. etc., evi
IDENTIFY beaten out by hand. / asked
some questions and Vice Pres.den
Purdy naid: I'VE carry those up :,
Mc,i'o to market They are 90 hesv,
that pens could mot carry them al
this distance st o price that would 81
low the market profit. The railroa,
solves the problem and gives tbs cool
OF the capital c. p er 'aucepans whel
he has ALWAYS hitherto used earthen.
Railroads will make the various part
Of this republic acquainted with eacl
other for tha frat TINA.