Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-06-29

| But there are no people-it is a New
| World with no inhabitants in it. To break
the silence that can be felt, we shout, We
sing, we spout poetry and rehearse scraps
OF eloquence borrowed from Mare Antony to
i Colonel 1ngersoll--but the hills throw back
our words in hooking echoes, rendering
the loneliness more oppressive.
| Northeast of the Salado, which at this
point is only about ten miles from San
| Vicente, lie the
| VALLEYS OF LAS CoCHAs AND cALENTURA,
Both of which contain ranches. Time did
not permit us to make detour in search of
! these modern Crusoes but we thought,
heaven pity the people upon whom nature
smiles so graciously, but who are as COM
| pletely isolated from their kind as though
located on an island in mid-ocean.
Five miles farther on we enter the Aqua
| Verde (green water valley which is per
feetly inelosed and beautifully level, taper
ing toward the west to mere gateway for
the admission of ocean breezes. From
| this point eastward, for distance Of eight
or ten consecutive miles, the hills are COW
cred with the maguey plant the agave
American, or American aloe, or Century"
| plant, In such dense proftisian thar TO
| walk or ride between their spear-like
| points would be impossible This is an
| other future source of wealth for Califor-
mia, springing wild by the wayside P5lque,
| the national beverage. is made from it,
and also the favorite intoxicant 7asscaL.
and after the liquor Is extracted, what re-
mains affords a good article of molasses.
! The leaves, dried and crushed. furnish
about the best paper pulp in the world
! and from their hbers ropes. SaCking thread
etc, are obtained. The Mexican Govern
ment alive to these benefits, and desiring
| to encourage home manufacture, HIS
offered subsidy of thirty thousand dol
/ lars to every mill for the reduction of
| maguey, when completed and in operation.
eThis region is crossed bv the valley
called San Rafael del Sur lof the SOUTH.
which must not be COMPOUNDED with that
of the same name near the northern end
of the peninsula. 1t seems a pity that
those who had the naming of these places
felt 1t their religious duty to stick so
closely to the Saints for the number of
the latter being limited, the result is a
confusing repetition. A great river winds
through this Southern Rafael. outlined by
q heavy growth of willows, sycamores and
! cottonwoods-bl sed sight after the tree
less leagues We have traversed. All along
the roadside grow date-paIms figs, and
the cultivated variety of prickly pear
THE FEW PEOPLE
Who live here appear to be entirely de-
voted to the manufacture of mescal, and
/ perhaps for the lack of any other market
consume great quantities of it them
/ selves.
From San Rafael to San Telmo the
| distance is thirty-seven miles, the last ten
/ of which leads through the toughest of
mountain gorges. Here, for the first time.
we found pitopmas-the puntias variety of
cactus-fruit about which the early mis-
| sionaries said SC much, and which then
/ las now formed the principal food of the
| native Californians. 1t is found in many
| parts of Central and South America. and
! also in Southern Mexico-but nowhere in
| such proportion as on this peninsula.
There are two kinds of it-one large as a
| hens egg, round and sweet, with a thick.
green, purply shell covering a red and
white meat in which black seeds are
| scattered like grains Of powder: the other,
larger and slightly sour, growing on low,
| creeping bushes. During about eight
weeks of the year there is great abund-
ance of them-from the middle of June TO
j the middle OF August-in this latitude, and
| during that time the Indians are fat and
well-cOnditioned, however they may starve
the rest OF the time. The pitapaya sea-
son is general holiday among the natives,
the most joyful time in their calendar,
| spent entirely in travelling about in search
of this fruit-stutiDg themselves till many
die from the effects of their gluttony, but
which they do net take the trouble to dry
or preserve in any way. The Indians
| have no notion of what year is and have
NO METHOD OF DIVIDING TINE.
Instead of saying "a year age" or during
this year, they use the expression, at is
already an ambia past" or during this
ambia,' the latter word signifying the
season of .pitapaya fruit. They have not
even noun for spaces of time, and in
speaking of three years they would say,
Three pitapayas."
| The most common pitapayas, the sweet
variety, start from a trunk hardly more
than foot high, and shoot up parallel
| columns, thick as mans arm, ten or
twelve feet high. These columns are
thickly covered with thorns, as is also the
| fruit, making them difficult to gather.
| The Indians manage it by means of
pole, to which is attached hook of bone
or wood, and below net.
The lower valley of San Telmo contains
the remains of an ancient Mission, around
which are clustered sixty or more Mexi-
cans and Indians. The Fathers left few
traces here in the way of improved civil
ization, for the people are about as de-
graded as can well be imagined and lead
the most primitive existence.
FANNIE B. WARD.