Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-17

infinitely prefer waiting till we reached
| town, when the sister naiad of the spring
added to our perplexity by remarking,
"Some people call them pecddoras y female
sinners! Worse and worse.
WERE WE EXPECTED TO TURN cANNIBALs
In this lonely place? But at this point
| one Mexican mozos FASTENED to assure us
| that in this region "burros," or 'peca-
doras," were hot tortillas with goat's-milk
cheese rolled up in them. We found them
particularly palatable, for lack of anything
| better, and before we had finished them
the elder naiad, whom we called
Undine, brought us a pot of something
| stewed, steaming hot, delightfully."- odorous
of onions and strong enough of chile to
| scarify a throat not already well seasoned
| to the national continent. With trium-
plant benevolence beaming from every
| feature, she placed it before lis on the
ground, and accepted our thanks and
reals. But there was nothing to eat it
with, and our earnest request for knives or
spoons was met by surprised mo hay
| there are none. However, ours was no
Tantalus experience for we have lived too
long in this funny country not to be able
| 10 dispense with such superAuities Of an
effete civilization. Thousands of people in
the rural districts of Mexico never saw q
| table-knife, fork or spoon, and would be
| quite at loss how TO use them. In lieu of
| the latter tortilla is rolled up and used as
a scoop for semi-liquid food, spoon and all
being eaten at once-a convenient and
| time-saving custom. when one gets used to
| it; and where cutting or spearing is re-
quired in dishes too hot or too tough for
the fingers, why what better implement
need one desire than his own omnipresent
dagger? In these straits l have seen many
a dark-eyed senorita, when wrestling with
a refractory piece of meat
GRAB THE sTILETTo OUT OF HER HAIR,
| OR the bosom of her gown, wipe it after
wards ON her reboso and replace it in its
! original hiding-place. And so we pic
nicked joyfully at Cuincho seated on the
ground under a cactus bush in the shadow
| of the volcanic hills, with the pot of
stew" between us, concerning whose in
gradients "'twere folly to be wise" A
| big leaf served each for napkin, and
when the tortilla-spoons We're exhausted
luckily Betsy had her penknife and | a
! long silver hair-pin, which answered all
purposes; and afterwards the mozos liter
ally licked the platter Clean
| Feeling tolerably familiar with the en-
! virons of Morelia, we concluded to abandon
the dusty highway, and be the discoveries
of new pathway homeward, la Column
bus As usual one short cut " proved to
be long round, but it had the charm of
novelty and was fo9ery and well shaded.
Michoacan is one of the most lovely and
| fertile territories on the continent. Lying
ON the western slope of the great cordiliera
of Anahuac, hills, woods and beautiful
valleys diversity its surface, watered by
numerous streams-the whole bathed in
the most glorious sunshine and amid a
climate the most delightful that ever
blessed a wicked world. We met with
nothing more remarkable on the journey
that several
| STUDIES OF MEXICAN HUMAN NATURE.
At one point we passed an Indian woman
seated on the ground, her Indian husband
standing beside her. They had probably
been to some village fete, and both had i'm
bibed too much puIque. The Indian stood
like a statue, silent and sad, with folded
arms, gazing upon his wife with the most
patient and plying face. She, quite over
come with the strength of the potation,
was unable to go any further, and, looking
up at her lord and master with the most
imploring air. continued to repeat, g Ma
tame, Miguel, matamer'-(s'K Kill me,
Miguel, kill me apparently considering
herself unfit to live
Presently we met another half-caste In
dian, hurrying along at great speed, who
stopped rs to inquire if we had met a man
with young and handsome woman. He
explained in great distress, that his wife
had run away from him, for the fourth
! time, with another gentleman" H vowed
that, though he had taken her back three
times, he never would receive her again,
never-that he only wished to overtake
her and give her the chastisement she de-
| served. He appeared TO entertain no ILL.,
| will toward his more fortunate rival. evil
IDENTIFY thinking that the management OF
SO false and tickle fair one would be pun.
| ishment enough for his misdeeds 1t is an
unfortunate fact for the virtue of the lower
| classes in Mexico that the wife is seldom
so well treated as the woman who Joins
| her fortunes with a man to whom she is
! not married. The reason is obvious, for
while the former is to all intents q slave
/, and has no recourse and no protection las
! the law will always return her to her hus-
| band if she runs away and he demands
herr, the latter can leave whenever she
| pleases if not well treated All the Indians
| consider it their particular privilege to beat
| their wives. The other day l heard an In
| dian woman complaining to the priest of
her husbands neglect. mentioning as the
browning proof of his utter abandonment
! that he had not given her beating for
whole month FANNIE B. WARD.