The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-04-10
Fannie B. Wards Mexico Letter.


All Mexican haciendas are much alike
as to general features The main build
ing is always an immense structure of
stone, or of equally durable plastered
adobe-neither farm nor country house
according TO our ideas, but with a char
acter peculiar to itself. 1t resembles a
fort more than anything else to be found
at the north, with bastions and ramparts
like the domain of baron of old, its cor
ner towers and loopholes for guns hav-
ing been built with an eye to revolutionary
sieges and the frequent raids Of ladrones
The wealthy proprietor seldom lives
upon his estate. but gives it over to the
care of an administrator. who IN turn lets
il to sub administrator who each have
their clerks and secretaries to superintend
the overseers and so on down through
the social gamut of the poems who super
intend" the pigs AS may be imagined,
there is not much thrift in this complex
system, for when every ear of corn and
gallon of pulque must pass through so
many hands it naturally follows that most
of the profits are absorbed before those Of
the owner are reached
Most of these fort-like houses have the
appearance of barracks. being cuTtainless
and carpetless with brick floors white
washed inner walls. and numberless
empty rooms. scantily furnished with
wooden benches pine tables, and iron
while the adjacent kitchens, servants
quarters, bakery, Out-houses, enormous
granaries barns, and stables, and the out
lying huts of the peasantry form village
within the ramparts.
Every hacienda. whether rich or poor,
has its own church of more or less mag
nificence, which to the curiosity hunting
tourist is a perfect treasure trove Of
charming ugliness, each private sanctuary
possessing as many saints as the grand
cathedral in the City of Mexico, while
candles are constantly burning upon its
altar, and votive offerings of fruits and
grains are piled around the holy family
for blessing upon the crops for the poems
are universally devotedly piUus and su
perstiiious To- degree. In those eXcep-
tiOnal instances where the millionaire
owners live upon their estates. their i'm
mediate famil es are sometimes numbered
by scores This is partially due to the
prevalence of an old Spanish custom,
which virtually obliges gentlemen to pro
vide for ali their DIES itute female re a
tives and to SD cid them and their offspring
from contact with the world.
Most Of the lonesome haciendad oS
haze few books. never any daily mails or
frequent newspapers. and no manner Of
amusement except such as they can ere.
ate within themse yes Their life IS like
that Of vOyag RS at sea. there being no es-
cape from the ship till the harbor il
ga ned-the principal difference being
that the con -Lement of the hacienda COM
munit ends only at the ygian river
Happily they are an exceedingly gentle.
afie tiOnae and even tempered race, for
a family quarrel in such situation won d
be unbearable-w without even the advant
ages p ssessed by the ancient citi- ems OF
Ter" chitiian. who built their early homes
upon the floating gardens of the great
salt lake. TeXcoco. and when the neigh
borhood was not to their liking could
pad lie away with their entire estate.
1t is easy TO unC erstand that, IN these
circumstances. a V s.tor at the hacienda is
hailed as DO direct from heaven, and
kept as long as he or she can e prevailed
upon to Tema a. In former times there
were few inns in Mexico and now they
are almost unknown outside the great
cities hence, persons travelling from place
to place, with the retinue of armed at
PENDANTS which personal safety requires,
are obliged to depend upon the hospital
ity of the haciendados for nightly stop
ping places. So generally is this eX
pected that the proprietors always set
apart generous sum in the provision for
annual penditures to be used by their
chance guests. whether they be rich or
Door, friends or strangers. Many are the
delightful acquaintanceships formed by
these accidental meetings, and sometimes
the halt-intended for a single night
lengthens into weeks and paves the way
for future returns for the sole purpose of
visiting. The romances begun in this
manner between wandering knights and
imprisoned maidens are legion, and the
end is matrimony with the usual sequel:
"They lived happily forever afterward. ="