Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1888-03-21

without its periodic rains, which,
especially in the warm lands, serve TO
determine the seasons, Mexico would
in part be sterile. But storms. frequent
on the coast and on the plateaus, and
of daily occurrence in the temperate
lands, refresh the atmosphere and swell
the torrents and rivers, which having
no embankments whatever, overflow
and COW the surrounding country to q
distance Of sixty miles with yellowish
waters. The storms OF Mexico, as we'll
known as its annual earthquakes, begin
in June aud end in October. The
spectacle is at once terrible, grand, and
impressive. The heavens are clear,
the atmosphere sitting, an enervating
calm lulls all animated natare to sleep,
"a calm which it seems nothing could
disturb. Suddenly the top Of . steel
gray cloud rises above the horizon on the
Atlantic side and grows ~perceptiblyy
larger and larger. Intermittent gusts
of wind sweep the earth, raise columns
of dust, scatter it in the upper regions
Of the atmosphere and veil the bril-
liancy of the sun. The violence of the
blast increases, the leaves are twisted
about, the branches of the trees bend
aud crash. The frightened birds, ut
tering plaintive cries, fly with quickly
beating wings in all directions; while
the quadrupeds bray, roar, neigh, bend
their heads. scrape the ground with
! their feet, and man grows anxious. The
| sky becomes black. it is dusk before its
time; her all noises except those
caused by the wind, are suddenly
lrc1. 1lex Aonl l..s.k r,.kI
from the dark cloud that is almost
within reach of the hand, with a noise
like that made by the rending of an i'm
mense sail the rain Immediately ponrs
down in torrents. The flashes of light.
ming now follow without interruption,
| binding the eyes with their white
flames; and the earth trembles under
the repeated claps of thunder, whose
rumbling o. mountain echo reverber-
ates and multiplies. For An hour,
nature battling with the elements,
| seems destined to humiliation in .
furious and blind struggle which
threatens a food. Streams of yellow,
! red, or black water. according to the
nature Of the soil through which it
flows, descends from the high peaks
! with q roaring sound, their courses
cross, they unite with one another, and
are transformed into torrents. Vege-
tation is swept away, trees uprooted,
and rocks, rolled along as if OF no
| weight, bound with a crash on the
slopes and are precipitated to the bot
tom of the valleys and into the depths
of unfathomed gorges. From these
abysses, which the water seems anxious
to fill up, and which are inhabited by
beings hat love the darkness, ascend
clamors, wild cries, and Kisses. During
| these sinister moments, the earth over
powered by the angry heavens, seems
to writhe and tremble in terrible agony
under the increasing blows dealt it by
! the furious elements.
At last, the immense cloud loses ito
inky color, and assumes grayish tints.
The wind dies out, the noises cease,
day reappears. then the SUE. Sud-
denly the birds sing, the insects buzz,
and the vultures darting up into the
laved atmosphere. describing their
mysterious circles. We breath; a
healthy odor arises from the soil and
the fragrant flowers exhale sweet per-
fumes. 1t seems like q dream but the
morrow will bring the same phenomena,
the same struggles, the same ~terrors,
and the same feeling of inanity. --"The
.4ztecs," by Latcian Bart.