Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-06-01
IN A HACIENEA. |.
An Immence Structure Of Stone or Plastered Adobe--Interior of the Fort-Like Houses-.Private Sanc- tuary.

All Mexican haciendas are much alike
 as to general features. The main build
 ing are always an immence structure of
 stone, or of equally durable plastered
 adobe neither farm or country house
 according to our ideas, but with char acter peculiar to itself. It 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
 corner towers and loop holes for guns
 having been built with an eye to revolu-
 tionary sieges and frequent raids of la
 drones.
 The wealthy proprietor seldom lives
 on his estate, but gives it over to the
 care of an administrator who in turn
 lets it to ub-administrators, who each
 have their clerks and secretaries to sup
 intend the overseers and so down
 through the social gamut of the peons
 who ''superintend" the pigs. AS may be
 imagined, there is not much Ethrift in
 thls complex system, for when every ear
 of corn and gallon of pulque must pass
 through so many hands it naturally fol-
 lows that most of.. ..the profits are absorbed
 before those of the owners are reached.
 Most of these fort-like houses have the
 appearance of barracks, being curtain
 less and carpetless, with brick floors,
 whitewashed inner walls and numberless
 empty rooms, scantily tfurnished with
 wooden benches, pine tables and iron
 bedsteads, put up only when wanted;
 while the adjacent kitchens, servants quarters, bakery, out-houses, enormous
 granaries, barns and stables, and the
 outlying huts of the peasantry form a village within the ramparts.
 Every hacienda, whether rich or poor,
 has it own church of more or less mag nificence, which to the curiosity loving tourist is a perfect treasure trove of charming ugliness, each private sanc- tuary 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 peons are universally devotedly pious, and superstitious to degree. In those exceptional instances where the millionaire owners live upon their es- tates, their immediate families are some times numbered by scores. This is par tially due to the prevalence of an old Spanish custom, which virtually obliges gentlemen to provide for all their desti- ute female relatives, and to shield them and their offsprings from contact with the world. ~~ Most of the lonesome haciendadas have few books, never any daily mails or ire quent newspapers, and no manner of
 amusement except such as they can ere ate within themselves. Their life is like
 that of voyagers at sea, there being no
 escape from the ship till the harbor is
 gained-the principal difference being that the confinement of the hacienda community ends only at the Stygian
 river. Happily they are an exceedingly gentle, affectionate, and even tempered
 race. for familyIquarrel in such a situa- ton would be nbearable-without even
 the advantages possessed by the ancient citizens of Tenochitilian, who built their
 early homes upon the floating gardens of the great salt lake, Texcoco, and when the neighborhood was not to their liking could paddle away with their entire es- tate.
 It is easy to understand that, in these circumstances, visitor at the hacienda is hailed as boon direct from heaven, and kept as long as he or she can be pre- vailed upon to remain. 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 attendants which personal safety requires, are obliged to depend upon the
 hospitality of the haciendas for nightly
 stopping places. So generally is this
 expected that the proprfetors always set apart gorgeous sum in the provision for annual expenditures to be used by their administrators in the entertain ment of chance guests, whether they be rich or poor, friends or strangers. Many are the delightful cquaintanceships formed by these accidental meetings, and sometimes the halt-lntended for a single night-lengthens into weeks and
 paves the way for future returns for the
 sole purpose of visiting. The romances beguni in this manner between wander ing knights and imprisoned maidens are
 legion, and the end is matrimony with
 the usual sequel: ''They lived happily forever afterward"