Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1884-03-06
TRAVEL IN MEXICO.
SaltillO to Zacatecas.

and dangers of overland travel in Mex
leo, but most of these stories, says Mrs.
Ward in the Troy Budget, are sheer
fabrications, evolved from the imagin-
alton of voluble travellers, who thus
add interest to the narration of their
own exploits. BY the regular stage
route there are many discomforts to be
encountered in the way of "bed and
board, and one finds it wise to carry
generous lunch basket along and a
supply of blankets-if not gatling
gun or u hammer with which to fight
the vermin which nightly assail him.
In setting out for Iacatecas, a distance
Of over five hundred miles, Betsey and
| received no end of coincidence and
sympathy from all our little world for
the perils and hardships we were about
to undergo. But we never had
pleasanter journey in any land than
that seven days ride over the noun
tains and into the heart of the interior.
But we did not patronize the stage
line. The ''money train as it is
called, is an established institution,
which everybody travelling in this
direction ought to understand and
profit by. Its conductor, Senor Don
Daniel Sada, is known and loved
throughout the country as a genial
gentleman and the brave man who
would protect his passengers and their
property with his life, If need be. For
several years he has made a business
of carrying treasure between the border
and the interior, often to the amount
of half million dollars at a single
trip. Beside the money and baggage
wagons, the train consists of comfor-
table ambulances fitted up with every
travelling convenience, an armed
escort sufficient for any emergency,
and enough well-conditioned mules to
supply small army, The latter fris-
ky creatures, harnessed six to each
coach and frequently changed,
whiSked us over the hills and val
leys of this wonderland all too
quickly; for the interest never flags
and the gypsy life is apcrpetual tonic
for health, appetite and spirit. The
train halts two hours at midday and
stops every night before sunset. Each
resting place is at aranche or hacienda
where is a house with comfortable beds
for the passengers. The campfire is
particularly alluring, the armed guard
posing around it so exactly like the
chorus in an opera that one mOmentari-
ly expects them to burst out into sing
ing, while fierccly bearded cooks stir
their connections, with great horse
pistols dangling from well-flled cart
ridge belts in such dangerous proX-
unity to the flames the wonder is we
are not served with human hash for
dinner. Then the eating out-of-doors,
at early morning and balmy evening,
and under the shade of spreading
palms at noon-day, with cross-legged
stools, camp table, tin plates and other
suitable accessories, is never failing
delight, especially as Senor Sada 5
menu includes the very fat of the land,
supplemented by winc napkins and
all the luXurics of civilization. Christ
mas day found us on the road, and YOU
may imagine our visions of Home
Sweet Home, in the mountains of this
summer land, when we could hear
hungry coyotes crying all night long in
the cactus bushes surrounding our
camp. A few miles from Saltillo we
pass Buena Vista, the field made IA
nous by the American invasion of 40
The hill held by Taylor is still crowned
by ruined forts, and at its foot the ar
t,.I a
once Redeemed by human blood. is now
dry of water, The real battlefield,
Angostura, shows no traces of wars
alarms, but is now swarming with
pigs, dogs and children, in the midst
of which stands a long, low adobe casa
bearing the suggestive name, LA Re-
forma.' " Two days later we cross the
celebrated mountain pass, Puerle del
Capulin, which was once the favorite
hiding place of Indians, and afterward
of not less murderous brigands.
But in these days of tranquility,
when literally the swords have been
beaten into plowshares," the travellers
need fear no hair-breadth escapes of
any sort. From this lofty pass we
come down into the clouds, and for
some hours are wrapped in mist as
with garment. Thence, constantly
descending, we reach at length fer
tile region-a mountain valley, if we
may so call the far-famed "McSd Cen
tra" Central tableland) of Mexico.
The omniprcsent cactus grows even
taller and ranker, and new varieties
are constantly appearing. Here are
actual forests of "prickly pear with
trunks like those of aged trees-the
haunt of giant rattlesnakcs and lean
coyotes: Hercules clubs" as big as
barrels, growing in enormous groups
and covered with long crimson
thorns that lend them indcscribable
beauty; tall, slender calts, growing
straight up like bcan-poles, from ten
to fifteen feet high; orchards of stu
pendous century plants; the marvellous
maguey, which is one of the chief re.
sources of the country; date palms
laden with heavy clusters of lus.
cious fruit, and cultivated fields Of
tunes-a species of cactus good fol
man and beast, from whose blood-red
fruit wine, beer and vinegar is made
The haciendas on this Mesa Contra
are of enormous extent, in several in
stances including from six hundred tc
nine hundred square miles, with wine
manufactures and villages thereon
each little kingdom in itself, of which
many an old world prince might b.
proud. The fortunate possessors o
these estates are indeed monarchs o
all they survey, for even the humans
who serve them are as much their yer,
own as the countless herds of cattle
horses and swine which range thei
hills. The system of peonism in Mex
leo is actual slavery, worse than tn,
serfdom of Russia. 1t has existed fo
, many generations, and comes abou
in this wise: A man borrows a sum o
{ money (perhaps to get married with
for priestly fees are far beyond TIN
, means of the poor and offers himsel
as security for the payment; of cours
he cannot pay, in land where wage
range from six to fifty cents per diem
, the mortgage is foreclosed, and he en-
ters into hopeless servitude, which de
scends upon his children's children. H
I is provided with shelter of some kim
upon the hacienda of his master, and /
paid for his labor an average of twelv
/ cents day-not in money, but il
' leathern checks representing his dues