St. Paul daily globe., 1889-03-16

gunboat would at once leave the neai-
est station for Guatemala. 1t was fur
ther demanded that summary punish
ment be meeted out to the commandante
who had thus inflicted such an GIlwar-
ranted penalty upon British subject.
Twelve hours only were given for com-
pliance, and the notification to the
British authorities to that effect was
given.
"The Guatemalans made all haste to
comply. They paid the poor naturalist
%lO0,OOO in gold coin and imprisoned
Jose Gonzales, the commandante, for q
term of years.
With the money which Magee got
from the Guatemalan government he
formed a coalition with Barrios, the
new president of the republic, and thus
being protected by the government, he
became interested in many profitable
enterprises. He became one of the
largest cofTee-growerS in Guatemala,
and to-day his crop is indicated by
thousands of kintels.
''Magee also got exclusive franchises
for building docks at the ports along the
coast. AS nobody else could build II
dock or compete with him, he had, and
yet has, it all his own way. No passen-
ger can load from any boat at any one
of these docks without paying from 81
to 81, and he must pay the same sum
when he leaves port again. All the
natives must also pay this tax, and not
a pound of coffee or other freight can
leave these ports or be brought off from
any vessel without paying tribute to
this able Celtic financier.
I'm consequence, he has grown very
wealthy and is the great man of Guate-
mala. as Henry Meiggs was in Peru.
Although he has magnificent estate
on the coffee plateaus of Guatemala,
and an elegant residence at Guatemala
City, IN full sight of the water and fire
volcanoes, he spends most of his time
In Paris, where, with his family, he en-
joys the luXurieS of another mansion
which he owns there.
PECULIARITIES OF THE NATIVES.
The only vehicle which the millions
of natives use in the farming regions
OF Guatemala is two-wheeled cart. the
wheels being sawed off the end of log.
They do not care for anything, better
than this, and to this cart are attached
two oxen, which do not wear yokes, but
have straight bar of strong timber
bound with thongs to their horns.
"a man last year came down from
New York with the intention of using
yokeS on the oxen on his coffee estate,
recently purchased. The natives
laughed at him and called him fool,
and when he tried to yoke on the oxen
and they SHE'D away, being as yet I'M
used to them, they said that even the
oxen knew him to be q fool.
THE natives carry all the freight to
and from the mountains on their backs.
From Retalihen, ascending eight thou
sand feet to Santa Quasaltenago, town
of thirty thousand people. these natives
carry all the freight. The distance is
forty-seven miles, and they ascend, car
rying two hundred pounds each at a
time, for but a cent and a half per
pound. These Indian natives are de-
scendants of the Aztecs, who have
ever since the conQuestS of Cortez and
Pizarro been kept in one form of slavery
or another. The natives are ruled, in
bands of 200 or 800 each, by another
native a little in advance of them in in
telhgence, and the latter hires them out
to employers of labor. much as con-
tractor on a California railroad goes to
a head Chinaman and engages a horde
of Mongols to do grading"