The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-06-23
A DREARY VIEW.
Trip From Saltillo, Mexico, to the Bat,
tle-Field of Buena Vista.

Trip From Saltillo, Mexico, to the Bat
tle-Field of Buena Vista.
The distance from Saltillo to Buena
Vista is seven miles, and the charge for
a boy and a burro was about thirty
cents. The donkey was small, unas-
suming, mouse-colored creature with
one ear cut short, but the other had size
and length enough for both, so we
couldn't complain. The pack-saddle
was about two-thirds the burro's length
and bulged out about six inches on both
sides. The driver told us of his fine 90
ing qualities, but said he couldn't un-
derstand Americana and that his name
was Santiago Santa Anna. All being
ready l mounted Santa Anna and the
driver followed behind with the donkey's
tail in one hand and a short stick in the
other which he used to guide us with.
There was no bride or halter on as it
WASH our place to drive. The day was
fine and all went well while the boy re-
manned at the helm, but he left his post
of duty once and we ran into thorny
ehaparral thicket; then all went well
again. We met several parties SINH
larly mounted and cared for, while
we were overtaken by others.
Thus the time passed pleasantly
away. On the way we passed a
number of lone crosses with a pile Of
stone at their base. These marks the
site of a murder and the stones are
thrown at the foot of the cross as mark
of respect for the dead. While this
post-mortem respect will never restore
the stranger to life, home and friends
far away, yet the average native believes
that it goes far to ameliorate the crime,
and hence murderers and brigands often
resort to it as means of imparting
peace to their own souls. In due time
we reached the hacienda Ganch or farm3
of Buena Vista.
The battle ground is located in a mar
row mountain pass, where the peaks of
the Sierra Madre tower up two thousand
feet into the skies. One side of the pass
is obstrueted by deep ravines, irrigation
bitches and rocky knobs. On the other
side there is level, rocky, treeless
oP"Co, WIN PttlSiiOo VI SdSIuS, WIN
maguey, thorny little agarita and few
scrub gincharche bushes. Some of the
breast-works are yet to be seen and are
in good preservation, and relics
of the battle can yet be found
on the field. The country in the
locality is a rocky, barren, parched
region, with scarcely enough of
tropical scrub brush to support the
tiocks of goats that browse in the valley
and on the mountain side. The land
scape view from the field is lonely and
dreary. The bald peaks above the tim
Der line can be seen as far as the eye
can reach. There is little appearance
of life of any kind. The storms of
sand and dust are frequent and fear
fully oppressive to man and beast. Our
Mexican veterans will remember that
such cloud was the advance warning
to them of the approach of Santa Anna
against Buena Vista. These strange
and dreary scenes, common to the
plateaus of Mexico, are pleasant to the
inquiring tourist, but far more pleasant
to leave than to live among. After
spending a day in observation we re-
turned to Saltillo, with greater re-
spect and deeper sympathy for our SOL
diers, who met and defeated an enemy
more than four times their own num-
Der, and that when country, climate
and all the clan of the mountains were
against them.-Cor. Detroit Free Press.