The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-06-08
AN INVASION OF MEXICO.

ing . good deal like yeast. 1t is nearly
~ white a. milk and has peculiar,
stringy consistency which led ::one OF
our party who tried it to remark that
when you begin on glass you have
to drink all Of it unless you happen to
have pair of scissors with you" The
leaves Of the century plant yield also
a fine, strong fibre from which ropes,
mats and similar articles are made.
-.
As the sun goes down we roll into
the station at Zacatecas. There il q
band playing sprightly airs, and a.. we
sit at dinner 1--WE are fashionable, you
see, taking coffee and fruit in the
morning, breakfast at twelve and
dinner in the EVENING" we are sur.
rounded by gaping curious crowds.
Dinner over we take street cars and
start on the widest, wierdest ride it
has ever been my lot to take. The
three mules that are hitched abreast to
each car are dashed into q break.reck
run and go tearing along the narrow
streets, up hill and down with q reck-
less disregard of possible consequences
that is extremely exhilarating. The
driver carries a little tin horn and at
every corner he blows blast of warn
ing. On we 60 past houses and
through streets that might have been
patterned after Jerusalem, under the
solid stone arches of an aqueduct that
was old when the Pilgrims landed on
Plymouth rock, past the great carved
portals and lofty domes of a cathedral
that might have been planned in
Grauada or Madrid, past the plaza,
overlooking with the fragrance of roses
and lilies, past dark doorways from
which issue all the odors of Cologne.
The end of the road is reached two
miles or more from the starting place
and we "change ends" and 20 tearing
back again until We reach the plaza
where we stop for a stroll along the
pleasant walks under the fragrant
tropical trees. The plaza is dimly
lighted with gasoline lamps, but the
full moon supplies the deficiency and
as We mingle with the picturesquely
dressed people or rest on one of the
numerous benches, we feel that we are
in a pleasant land. In the central
stand the band is playing and we hear
for the first time the stirring strains of
the Mexican national hymn. After
applauding THE with due courtesy, we
again take our cars for another wild
ride back to the station. Zacatecas is
town of $4,000 inhabitants, crowded
into narrow gorge between the low,
barren mountains. It is supported by
silver mines of fabulous richness,
mines that have already yielded $780,
OOO, 900, SO We are told, and yet show
no signs of exhaustion.
~
Wednesday morning we are at Silao.
Not much to be seen above the trees
except the Moorish, tiled domes of the
churches that We are learning to
expect in all these towns. Neverthe-
less there are 10000 or more people
there. We wonder how they are sup
ported, but the story is told when We
ride over the branch road that leads to
Guauajuata, twelve miles off the main
line. Hills full of silver on the left
hand and the most lovely valley we
have yet seen stretching away to the
right. Corn fields and orchards that
one of Kansas. "A reminder
tina: is effaced, however, by the hedge
rows of tall, tree cactus that divide the
land into irregular patches. 1t is a
lovely landscape and is the first coun-
try we have seen in Mexico that looks
to Kansas eyes, of producing
Guanajuats we find to be larger,
dirtier, more odoriferous edition
of Zacatecas. Marrow, crooked
streets, low, fiat-roofed houses,
rising like terraces one above the other
as they climb the steep hillsides. There
are four mules to our street car here
and they are driven at the hard gallop
that seems to be the habit of the coun-
try. This break-Deck speed is the
more surprising when contrasted with
the indolent habits otherwise usual
with these people. Indeed one is sur
prised to find street cars at all in these
sleepy old towns. Yet they all have
them and they seem to be well patron
lied. Guanajuato, however. hardly
deserves the epithet Sleepy" AS our
car dashes along it seems inevitable
that there should be q collision with |
the innumerable beasts of burden, men |
and mules, that throng the tortuQus
street. Men and mules are classed to-
yether with literal accuracy as beasts |
If burden for the former are as num-
IRONS and nearly as heavily laden as
he latter. There is grand cathedral
here, Of course, and two or three plazas
With their gorgeous flowers and arts.
lie band stand. But we linger longest
n the market place, for this is closest
o the life of the people. Rude awnings
heltering long rows of men and
each squatted on the ground
=, &1a ~ L;o -, L.. .A..l- |