Wichita eagle., 1889-05-19

- SS5SS = -r1szzssSSSG,SFsA
'~.S99s s,sSA S@E=;E-
San VICENTE CAVE.
and forwards in its cave-like prison. The
upper crust of the funnel is pierced with
occasional holes and crevices, and at certain
stages of water these are the mouths OF so
many spouting geysers as each wave comes
in beats against the stone roof that confines
it there. Woe to the footman who steps
across one just as high wave reaches its
maximum strength in the cave beneath. He
will get the quickest and most effectual
bath of his lifetime.
Once on the seawaRd face and long line
of caves are presented to view. The high
hills here are hard conglomerate, and the
sea- waves of the Gulf Of California as we
call it, the Gulf of Cortez as it was first
named and yet applied by most Mexicans,
have cut far under the cliffs, leaving over
hanging masses Of earth sometimes hun
dreds of feet in depth as measured back
along the roofs under which we walked.
They looked foreboding enough, and we
felt that a great chunk Of few hundred
tons might come down at any time on our
heads. scaling off Of the roof, for here and
there could be seen just such deposits in
the shallow waters, while occasionally great
islands We're made out along the mouth of
the caves that must have been formed when
greater masses fell down, probably the
whole cave tumbling in. But these falllngs
are no doubt decades and centuries apart,
and all these caves are fully as safe to ex-
plore or wander over as caves in general
AL idea of danger, however, was soon lost
In the delicious GOODNESS of the deep caves,
for the day on the shining water and white
sand beach had been g very warm one, al
though we hardly noticed it in the excite
ment of our strange sport.
The coloring in the largest cave was be-
yond description, and although the accom-
panying sketch of Mr.. Landau, our artist,
is as good as black and white can make it,
it conveys but little idea of the reality be-
yond form and contour, with the variegated
colored rocks for a roof, and the same re-
fiected in floor of the deepest ultramarine
oscillating with the great swells of the
ocean. There is a narrow ledge on the
skirts of the caves where the pedestrian
can find way to enter, except at the high
est tide, but even then he can crawl out On
the little islands if there is not heavy
storm beating landmarks, which is seldom
the case, and never known in the winter
months. l thought that Guaymas had
wealth Of natural attractions for the win
ter tourist or traveller, although hardly any
reared by the hand of man to make his stay
comfortable in the strictly physical sense.
The hotels are all Mexican, and while they
should be judged from that stand point,
probably, yet to an American they are
neither good nor bad, and it Is hard to say
lust where they are between those linn
hot al lrrpt To o11c-
coed here if that fact and all others regard
ing Guaymas were known!
Even the inhabitants, in their Nazarine
primitiveness, are very interesting. Al
though Guaymas claims seven thousand
people within her gates her water works
are of the same character as those of the
ancient Egyptians. The chief description l
shall give of them is the picture Of one Of
the public wells, just in the suburbs Of the
town. Multiply this by six or seven, throw
in two or three abandoned and dilapidated
ones that look like the ruins Of Jericho,
and the description is as complete as it can
be made. In very strange contrast with
this, seemingly separated by ten to twenty
centuries, is a field Fairy camera taking an
instantaneous view of the scene.
In one of the rooms Of the American Con-
sui, Mr. Willard, facing the principal plaza,
is lodged the piece of shell, thrown there,
singularly enough, by an American man-of-
war when Guaymas was taken, in 1S47, dur
ing the Mexican war. At that time the
Portsmouth and Congress entered the har-
Dor, shelled the town and took it. The
piece of bursting shell has lodged in the
huge wooden rafters of the building, and
as these are never covered in the simple
architecture of this country, its rusty round
side is plainly visible frsm beneath. From
the positions assigned the vessels iii said
to have been thrown by the Congress, she
of Monitor Merrimac fame afterwards,
where she was lost, and as the American
flag yet floats from the staff directly over
the shell, it makes it quite an interesting,
as well as historical, piece Of iron. Very
few Americans, indeed, ever associate the
quiet little town of Guaymas with any OF
the deeds done in the war waged so long
ago that its memories are almost swept
away in the later and greater war OF civil
strife.
There are very few good seaports in Mex
leo. There are none on the Atlantic coast
and but one or Two on the Pacific, and
those will need some work 10 make them as
good as we are used 70 seeing on our own
seaboards. Either Guaymas or Topolobampo,
from their peculiar geographical positions
and inherent qualities that nature has given
them in a country where she has been very
spare with her favors, will be great port
on tie Pacific for the Transmission Of
freight from the United States and Mexico
TO Australasian ports. San Francisco holds
this now by right of American energy over
her southern neighbor, but against falrer
position and ultimate development of this
region l do not think she can hope 10 keep
il always. FREDBRICh SoHN AKA.
Great Expectations.
The chief of police, who was dressed in
civilians clothes, saw how cab-driver in
suited and abused people who refused to
hire his vehicle. The chief of police en-
tered the cab and told the iehu 10 drive on