Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-08-22
VERA CRUZ TO JALAPA.
SIXTY MILES TRAMWAY THROUGH
A TROPICAL WILDERNESS.
Old Spanish Highway by Which Cen
eral Scott Crossed the Mountains
-Cerro Gordo-Etc.
rspecial Corresnondence Of the REcoRp- UNIoN.]

Especial Correspondence of the RECoRD-UEIoN.l
JALAPA tMexico}, August Il, 1885.
The sixty-nlile tramway journey, by
which this place is reached, is looked upon
with dread by those who have not made it;
but experience proves it to be SO enjoyable
that the only hardship encountered is when,
after twelve hours Of mule speed, this long
est street-car ride in the world, is ended.
Leaving Vera Cruz so early that its citizens
were still Stun bering-and even the swarm
ing buzzards, having their heads tucked
under their wings, neglect to watch us to
see how soon we are likely to become food
for them-we board the steam cars and
traverse the first sixteen miles in total dark
ness. Just as the day is breaking, and the
faintest tinge of red begins to flush the
snowy face of Orizaba, we are unceremoni-
| ously hustled out at San Juan, and the en-
CINE goes screaming away, leaving US ap-
| parently alone in the desert But at that
moment the mule tram comes Gathering in
from another direction, and somebody
obligingly points us to a fendG, where a
mug of coffee may be obtained, and an al
| legged biscuit. The latter, however, being
proof against all attacks with knives, teeth,
etc, we are inclined to believe, may be
some well-preserved Aztec relic, and are
discussing the propriety of
CRACKING II UPON STONE,
When comes the shrill cry tamdnos (''let
| US 20" equivalent here to "all aboard. y,
and ourselves and baggage are speedily
sandwiched into one of the tramwav
| noanboc an1h oil fof
| can make)-with seats arranged back to
back, facing the front and rear-is drawn by
four frisky mules, which are exchanged for
| fresh ones at frequent stoppingplaces, and
| kept on a dead run all the way.
Most of the route lies along the splen-
| didly paved and curbed old Spanish high
way, by which-untl of late the steam
cars take it via Orizaya-all the freight and
| passenger travel passed from the gulf to
| the capital. 1t is replete with the historic
happenings of more than three hundred
and fifty years, and if the traveller is so for
| tunate eas to have for a fellow passenger
| Col. John Thraiikill, the hospitable Ameri-
can who is President of the road, or the
! celebrated ex-mail-carrier, John Murpy, he
will be entertained by many never-to-be-
| forgotten tales.
| The first forty miles lies mainly through
| tropic marshes, where every tree bears not
only its own luxuriant burden of fruits or
| flowers, but is weighted with creepers, par
asitic plants and the most wonderful vari-
| ETY. OF orchids, forming one mass of foliage
| of many distinct kinds and all imaginable
| tints, tangled together in widest confusion.
No plantations are anywhere in sight, and
| few evidences of human labor. All is a
! tropic wllderness-mo beautiful to behold,
but unutterably lonely, as Paradise may
| have been before the Lord bethought him
self to people it. And, by the way, it is de-
! voutly believed by the Mexlcans that this
State OF Vera Cruz was
THE vERITABLE GARDEN OF EDEN,
And that the portion Of it now occupied
by Jalapa was the scene of the apple
| tragedy. To make good the tradition, a
tree grows hereabouts the chirimoya)
which bears what is called forbidden
fruit'-from the danger of eating too
much of it. Such are the soporiic qualities
of the mammoth trumpet-shaped white
flowers hanging pendant from every limb,
that to sleep beneath the tree is said to be
sure death. Persons troubled with in
somnia place 4 few of the hly-like BIOS
| SONS, whose odOr is overpowering. upon
their pillows, taking care TO remove them
before the hour Of retiring TOR it is be-
lieyed that this deadly fragrance will pro-
duce an endless slumber.
The maguey, also indigenous to this To-
cality, is pointed out as the plant to which
our first parents resorted when dress
making became necessity-for in it kind
nature combined all materials ready to
their hands-lts strong iibers producing
| both cloth and thread, and the sharp
pointed thorns which terminate its leaves
to this day serving for needles and pins.
| Certainly this portion of Mexico's paradise
carries out the idea of an Eden after the
curse-for there are no traces of Adam and
Eve, or any of their descendants. and never
the song of bird or sight of q butterfly is
known through miles of the deserted
country. Poets have exhausted their pow
ers in painting these beautiful scenes where
all the senses are satiated with delight, but
where are no deniZens except those that
destroy The serpentis master Of the field
and has begotten a numerous progeny
Gigantic rattlesnakes deadly asps and q
hundred dangerous species glide away at
our approach; reptiles prey undisturbed
upon each other in the tropic lagoons
enormous Lizards sun themselves in the
hot sands or wink at us from the rocks
tarantulas scorpions, centipedes and innu-
merable other pests abound, and parasitic
plants, like vegetable vampires, suck the
life blood from every tree.
TIE KINGS BRIDGE.
Gradually ascending from the lowlands
we wind along a series of silent hills from
which sudden descent brings us to the
Puente Macdonald magnificent viaduct
built by the early Spanish Government
and called Puente del Rey (the Kings
BRIDGE, until that royal gentleman claims
in this country were all appropriated by
the people. The scene here is like some
romantic ravine in southern Italy, where
the remains of noble architecture and lux
uriant productions of the soil are blended
in wild beauty. Beneath it the Antigua
river plunges from quiet bed into a
gloomy abyss of perpendicular rocks, while
the cool, inviting shadows above, fringed
| with ferns and water plants, are all fish
less-for popularity of Mexican streams
is that few of them contain any
of the fnnv tribes. Stone forts upon
either side command the approach to this
bridge, and the adjacent nights have all
been strongly fortified, for many times has
the pass been holly contested. General
Scott and his troops passed over this
bridge, and not far beyond is the fatal spot
where the American army encamped when
the yellow fever broke out among them,
and 500 were left upon the field Among
these defiles and Businesses the revolutions
airy Generals lay concealed in Yturbides'
time, and finally descended from this van
tage ground to conclude the fight for indie
pendenee.
Standing upon the Kings bridge, we
tried to recall the stirring scenes that have
! been enacted here during the incessant wars
of the last three centuries-the long and
ghostly train of warriors who marched to
death over this Stygian river; of armies
sweeping by to civil conflict beneath the
frowning batteries; of days when Gomez
practiced such cruelties in the name of lib
erty; of Santa Ana and Yturbides and
Macmillan and Scott-Aztecs, Spaniards,
Frenchmen, Americans-each with their
varying ambitions, to write success or fail
ure upon the pages of history.
FORMER PARADISE OF ROAD AGENTS.
In former times this was q iavorite
lurking place for salteadores or knights
] of the road and no mule.train or dill.