Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-03-22
MEXICAN SMUGGLERS.
THEIR WORK ALONG THE BORDER
OF ARIZONA TERRITORY.

In Companies of Fifteen or IWcnty-A
Portable Treasury-A variety OF Iilicis
Imports-DeIicious Fruits and fresh
observation-disclosures.
Among the first sights to attract the at
tention of a stranger in one of the little towns
near the border lines are the trains of SNUG
glers, which may be met almost any day on
the outskirts of town. The Mexican SNUG
glers usually come in companies of fifteen or
twenty, riding on mules and driving the
requisite number of pack animals ahead of
them, as they must rely on themselves for
protection from attacks of Apaches, who are
always liable to be lurking in the wild, moult-
ainous country over which they must pass
in order to avoid the custom-house officials.
Traffic with the smugglers is what the mer-
chant most abhors, for while their purchases
amount to quite a little sum, they must mean
while be kept under the most careful surveil-
lance, as no article is too insignificant to
tempt their thievish natures, and nothing so
valuable that they dare not make the at
tempt to purloin it. If detected in
a theft they give up the stolen
article with an air of injured in
nocence ard await an opportunity to re-
place it with something more valuable.
| When, after a great deal of elaboration, they
decide on the purchase to be made, they drive
the mules up to the store and make up their
packs for the homeward trip.
Their money, which consists chiefly of
Mexican dollars, or "adobes" as they arecom-
monty called, is invariably carried with the
pack, tied up in a little buckslin sack, and
this the smuggler unties from the saddle in
the l~eisurely manner of, his nation and brings
it in and throws it on the floor of the store
with the utmost indifference, apparently pay
ing no further attention to it until he is ready
to count out the coin to pay for his purchases.
The sights of a little town like Tombstone
seem to ill the smugglers with wonder, and
they go about the streets and in the stores
like children, staring at everything with the
greatest curiosity.
AFTER THE wAY oT H GRINGos.
Little by little they begin to discover the
uses of all these novel articles and are tempted
to pattern after the ways Of the Gringos
themselves, and thus the contentsrof a snug
gler's pack have materially changed during
the past four or five years. At first the pur-
chases consisted chiefly of guns, pistols, am
munition, cartridge belts, ETC., with an adj
dition of q fewminor articles, such as ~calicoes,
oyeralls, etc. After a while they began to
SEQ the possible advantages which American
| DOtbo anu SllDto iIiI5 ~ nave oNCl llipltSlsiiioy
and so would take a few pairs as a venture.
Then came a demand for cooking stoves and
utensils Of all sorts, and soon the sewing ma
chine began to figure as an evidence of prog
resi- in civilization. Every new train takes
back some novelty, and if it meets with Next
can approval the next train brings the de-
mand for a larger supply, and so our exports
are yearly increasing to quite an extent.
The struggled imports consist chiefly of
mescal, q beverage which looks as innocent
as water, and which has all the properties of
very bad whisky. This is made from the
mescal plant-a species of agave-in some
way best known to the Mexicans, although
the process is variously described by tourists.
But whatever the process may be, the pro
duct seems to be received with perfect faith
and finds ready sale. They also bring crates
of the luscious Sonora oranges; also little
cakes of panoche, which is an exclusive pro-
duction of Mexico, made in some mysterious
way from the sugar cane, we are told. This
statement, however, must be received OF
faith, if not cum grano sails, at least with a
great deal of grit and dark mystery.
OF A MORE NOVEL NATURE.
:. Along toward spring we are flooded with
imports of a more novel nature. The tow
is then thronged with Mexican women and
children of the lower classes-the poems OF
M~exico-who come g~rotesquely loaded with
bird cages containing various kinds of the
singing birds of that region. The cages are
very ingenious in construction, and often
!, quite elaborate in design and finish. They
are made Of slender twigs Of some very white
wood, and this is often gaudily painted OF
; stained in all the hues of the rainbow. They
bring chiefly mocking birds, but occasionally
beautiful cardinal birds and golden orioles
are offered for sale. The women and chill
dren, like the men, are most inveterat'
thieves and shameless beggars, but such pa
thetic looking creatures would melt hearts O
, stone, and thus the cast-off wearing apparel
= too ragged to give to the aristocratic poor
who are always with us, comes to be laic
, aside in anticipation of "bird time," for moth
! ing is too humble to be most gratefully re
ceived by the Mexican beggar.
& The articles mentioned above constitute tn
chief imports that are struggled across tn
: line, but every train from Sonora brings u
V most delicious fruits and fresh vegetables
t end from the gulf at Guaymas are sent fresl
t CIR and oysters in the shell, breathing til
: delightful odors of the ocean to men long ex
!. led from the sea shore. As a matter Of fact
However, the fish and oysters did not meet
. very enthusiastic reception after the novelt,
1 had worn away, and our chief supplies arede
: rived from California. We appreciate, how
ever, the bananas, the oranges and dates, a
well as the pomegranates, pine apples, an
fruit of the cocoa palm, which is shipped b
train from scme mysterious region of the ii
. erior.-Tombstone (Ari) Cor. San Francisc
8 Chronicle.
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