Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-10-26
A MEXICAN WATERING PLACE.
DELIGHTFUL YACHTING IN THE SEA
OF coRTEZ.
Piek-ups From a Fruitful Region
Life in a Mexican
Hotel.

of Denmark left out. Every evening at
about the sunset hour, the natives swarm
with yachts and row-boats of every de-
scription, filed with merry people seeking
relief from the heat of the day, and from
many little craft strains of music are
wafted-the tinkling Of guitars and man
dolins, "the lascivious blessings of the
Lutte" or the vocal notes of some Castilian
love song.
In such an hour even resident of
Hades-like Guaymas may be contented
with his surroundings. Floating idly in
a shallop, propelled by silent Yaqui, you
watch the changing mountains putting on
their evening gowns of purple hue
mountains on both Sides covering the
islands and the mainland; long lines of
mountains with rugged outlines and sharp
cones standing like sentinels here and
there; mountains blue, pale gray, black,
amethyst, brown-mountains everywhere,
with their tops in the clouds and per-
petual summer at their feet.
1HeT6 are SUell6Ttu CONtS anu DOOkS H.
Vulnerable, where duck and other wild
fowl sail il the shallow water, where the
bathing is good and the fishing said to be
the best in the world. The vast bay is
literally alive with fish, from the biggest
sharks te-shrimps not span long, and the
oysters, particularly those of the Yaqui
river near where it empties into the gulf,
are excellent, though very small. But
there are few fishermen among these lazy
people, the principal purveyors for all the
markets being Indians from further down
the coast-the Yaquis and Mayos-who
are also agriculturists, and the latter tribe
so wise as to deny the white man a resi-
dence within their borders. Turtles of
immense size are frequently caught here.
] saw the remains of one on the beach
which was said to have weighed between
900 and 1,G00 pounds.
Notwithstanding the presence of sharks
in the bay the populace bathe without
fear along the fine beach that fronts the
city, hundreds of ladies going in every
afternoon about o'clock, which is here
the fashionable hour, winter and summer,
for that exercise, the hills to the west of
the beach shading it from the rays of the
eater" is not likely to come close to so
populous a shore, yet there have been in
stances within the last few years of hair
breadth escapes or the loss of an arm or
leg by bathers who yentured out too far.
There are no lighthouses or other con-
veniences for the public use.
FATHERS OF THE BETTER CLASS
Keep suits of their own, generally old cal
leo wrappers or Mother Hubbards of I'M
bleached cotton, but there are many ma
tives, even of the gentler sex, who do not
stand upon any such ceremony, but, seek
ing some comparatively secluded spot,
ment Tor, at best, of all but one scant
white garment, plunge in unhampered
and defy the world to interfere with their
enjoyment
There is another beach in the gulf
proper, four and half miles from the
town, over the hills to the westward. Here
one has distinct view of the Sea of Cor
tez-that magnificent expanse of blue
green brilliant water which attracted so
many adventures nearly four centuries
ago. A fine hotel is to be erected at this
point, which viii some day, perhaps, be-
come fashionable seaside resort, not only
for Guaymasans, but for citizens of the
nearby United States-the former seeking
relief from excessive heat, the latter from
the cold of their respective homes. On
the last mentioned beach we found many
beautiful shells, among them a species
covered outside with long sharp points,
like horns, and inside highly polished and
painted by the hand of nature in varying
tints of rose, pink, lavender, yellow, pearl
and red.
Across the hills back of the town, eight
or ten miles away, is good agricultural
country, with some fine ranches and vine
yards. Prominent among the ranchmen is
Judge Guillermo Robinson-no relative of
the illustrious Crusoe, but an exile from
the United States-who owns farm there
which is a model of what enlightened
industry can accomplish in this genial
cline, in the culture of tropical and semi
tropical products. This belt of arabic land,
the nearest to the town, extends 2way back
into the country several hundred miles.
AMONG THE HOTELS
OF this fourishing seaport, that called the
Cosmopolitan is perhaps the best, because
kept by bristling little Frenchman, who
not only appreciates the merits of sea food,
but knows how to serve the best fish, tur-
ties, crabs, oysters, shrimps, Holsters, etc,
and keeps cook who prepares them to
perfection. But that is about all one can
conscientiously say in favor Of this house.
Yet, in spite of the biggest bugs that ever
crawled and the most active and vicious
feas that ever pestered a weary traveller,
we cannot help rather enjoying the odd
inn-so Frenchy is some OF its appoint
ments, so Mexican in others and so thor
oughly foreign throughout to anything
ever seen at the North. 1t is built in the
prevailing style of the place-one story
high, the rooms surrounding a patio and
opening into it by means of corridor run
ming all around the inside. Most of the
apartments have no windows at all, except
a small opening in the great wooden door
that opens into the corridor. Close it and
YOU are in total darkness open it and any
straggler walking up and down the public
corridor may look in at viii upon the
mysteries of your toilet. On account of
the excessive heat most people are COM
PEELED to leave their doors wide open all !
night long, so that the belated guest, in
seeking his own place, has a full view of |
his sleeping and snoring neighbors.
OF course there are no bells here, and if |
you require a servant you step out into the |
corridor, clap your hands-precisely as
of Congress in the Capitol at
Washington summon their pages. Though |
almost destitute of furniture, the apart
ments are clean, invariably, and have no
with each other, or with |
the street, except by way of the general |
corridor into which all open. The bed
steads are all single ones {often three or
four in room), with framework of brass,
iron or,niclel, entirely guiltless of springs,
and with mattresses, harder that Pharoah's
heart, thrown over the bare boards. At
the head of every bed stands a singular
French contrivsnce-a sort of skeleton
table on a very small scale, painted black,
Il. Is