The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-11-14
CREATIONS FAC END.


Present.
"a place where they can change the
head of government by revolution four
times in seven months, where the mer-
curry is perfectly at home at los degrees
in the shade. where the people eat
snakes, and where smallpox and yellow
fever follow each other in regular sue
cession, year in and year out. may not
be lively enough country for some
folks to live in, but it filed the bill for
me-" said an oil-wcll operator from the
Pennsylvania regions.
THAT locality" said he, lis the State
or district of Tabasco, in Mexico.
went down there for some parties three
years ago to see what there was in the
reports about petroleum deposits of
great richness in the region. There
was no way to travel except by canoe
and on bronchos, and it was no uncom-
mon thing to travel two hundred miles
or so to reach place fifty miles away
as the bird flies. There is plenty of
natural pitch or bitumen there. but 1
couldn't see the prospect of an oil re-
gion ever being developed, although
Boston capitalists were pegging away
with drills in various parts of the district
in hopes. of striking oil. There are
ninety thousand persons living in that
district. and all l saw of it was one vast
area of pestilence. The inhabitants are
mostly Indians. and they haven't begun
to be civilized yet. One loose garment,
reaching from the neck to the knees, is
all the clothing that either sex wears,
and the children run entirely naked the
year round. / got there in November.
and left in July. At no time was the
mercury lower than seventy-four de-
grees in the shade. and when 1 came
away it was 105 degrees.
1.-The day before got to San JuaL
Baptisa, the capital of the State,
couple of citizens had adopted the usual
method of changing the government,
and had shot the Governor, whose name
was Foncher. his private secretary, and
another member of his council, while
the three were walking in the street.
Foncher was the fourth Governor who
had been removed in that way since the
preceding May. The Governors secre-
tary and the other official were killed
instantly. Governor Foncher fell to
the ground but regained his feet. The
two assassins were running away. The
Governor fired two shots. One of the
assassins fell dead, and Foncher dropped
to the ground and exp red Immediately
afterward. The second assassin ran
on. During the night man was found
in the street, suffering, it was supposed,
with the cholera, it being the season
for that annual visitor. He was treated
for the disease, and it was not until
after he died that bullet hole was dis
covered in his back. The bullet was
eddy the second one of the assassins,
showing that the dying Governors shots
had both taken effect.
Smallpox appears as soon as white,
weather sets in. The natives were
dying at the rate of twenty-five dav
during my stay in Tuxpan, coast vii
lage, and the coast was under quaran-
tine. The yellow fever takes up the
work as soon as the smallpox takes it,
yearly vacation. and that in turn rests
in the fall, and cholera varies the mo-
notony of the region until smallpox
comes back again. A wagon goes
around every night, and gathers up the
dead at the different houses. and the bod
les are loaded in and carried to the dead
lot. large piece of ground inclosed by
high brick wall. The remains are
sorted out and buried next day. was
told at Tuxpan that it often happened
that persons were, in the hurry of col.
lecting the dead. placed in the dead
wagon before life was really extinct.
and that it was not uncommon for a
person to rise up suddenly in the wagon
as it passes on its rounds, glance wildly
around until he recognizes his situation.
and then disengage himself from the
dead piled about him, jump from the
wagon. and move away as long as his
strength lasts. or until he is captured
by others and slowed away in the hos
pital. Neither is it an uncommon cir
cumstance for the custodian of the dead
lot. on opening the gates in the morn
ing. to find two or three persons wait
| ing TO get out. having been placed in
the lot the night before with load of
dead.
1.-The natives live on cracked corn,
che flesh of hideous snake-fsh called
| the lagarta and the flesh of that cheer
ful-looking reptile or animal. or what
ever it is. the armadllo. The lagarta
is the favor,te morsel It is caught in
the stagnant water that is everywhere
in the locality. 1t has the head of a
serpent, and half-fsh, half-reptile
body, covered with horny scales. The
mode of cooking is to take it as il
comes from the water. run stick
down its throat, and hold it over fire
until it is baked. The few Spaniard.
and Mexicans who live in the distric
have their tables supplied with decent
food; but its preparation is not such a.
to tempt the appetite. | found Other
parts of Mexico so delightful in every
respect that could hardly bring my.
self to believe that,there could be such
| an ALTOGETHER Wretched norton of IL a,