The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-05-31
PEOPLE OF MEXICO.
Frank Carpenters Observations
i'm Our Sister Republic.
NINETEENTH CENTURY AzTEcs.
Roses and Strawberries the Year Round
The Great Plateau-The Orient
In the Occident.

sILAo. Mexico. May 26.-fspecial Cores
pondence- I-One hundred thousand Amer
leans viii spend at least 500, 000, 600 in
Europe this year in sightseeing. They
VIII rush from one part of the continent
10 the other, carrying a little America
along with them, and viii have their 20u,-
"o eyes worn out with picture galleries
ana cathedrals, and their 10000 legs win
imp nom the effects of their tramp. Their
ioo,oVo stomachs viii be turned inside ont
at least twice by the billowy Atlantic. aud
their loo0O0.oO0 of dollars will be largely
spent III discomfort and discomfort.
Europe they will find 10 be no
longer foreign country. The tourist
mas taken Its picturesqueness out
Oh II; and the customs Of its people are al
most the same as ours. The most foreign
countries In Christendom can be now
reached III Pullman sleeper, and the only
water that needs to be crossed is the
ragged lite river known as the Rio Grande.
Mexico Is land of different civilization
from ours Its people are a people In
themselves, and ind it one of the strang-
est countries of the world. It is less
known in guide book literature than any
country in Europe, and it is land of won-
GERS and continuously changing kaleid-
coseope OF strange things of both man and
nature.
We know very little of Mexico. Pres
colt gave us picture of the country in
the time of the Montezumas Passing
travellers have written the Impressions
that came TO them while looking out of
express trains going at the rate of forty
miles an hour, and we have hazy idea Of
the republic as sort of a tail to the United
states. The truth is that the country is
an empire in itself, and just what sort OF
an empire and how much it is worth, even
It's own citizens do not know. 1t Is sup
posed that there are about II, 600, 600 peo-
pie in the republic. but they have never
been accurately counted, and the most of
them are of character and race about
which the world knows nothing. Tie
men known as Mexicans are the ruling
class, and these are numbered by thou
sands instead of millions. The
real people of Mexico are the Az
tees. millions upon millions of
whom have not a drop of Spanish
blood in them, and many of whom pos.
sess no element of nature in common
with the Spaniards, the haIf-breeds or
with their civilization. Most of these In
dams speak Spanish, but they have their
own tongues as well, and it is said there
are at least one hundred different dialects
used by them in different parts Of Mexico.
In some parts of this country you will find
nothing but these Indians, and Senator
Hearst, year or so ago, travelled over
some of the back districts of Mexico.
where he was the first white man the peo-
pie had ever seen. They regarded him as
a great curiosity, carried him on their
shoulders for miles and delighted in doing
him honor.
The word Indian gives no proper idea Of
these Aztecs of the nineteenth century.
They are nothing like our Indians in APP
pearance or civilization. They are as adj
vanced as the lowest classes OF many parts
of Europe, and they have manners and
civilization peculiarly their own. They
have shown themselves possible of great
development, and some of the most strik-
ing men in Mexican history have come
from them. Juarez was an Indians
Hidalgo was an Indian and the president
of Mexico today, Senior DiaZ, has some In
dian blood in his veins. The congress Of
Mexico is largely made up of the descend
ants of the Aztecs, and IL is believed hy
many that the future possibilities of Mex
leo are TO come from this race. The pure
Spaniards of Mexico are few, and they and
the people of mixed Indian and Spanish
blood, make up, it is said less than one
fourth of the whole population. Still il is
from them that the whole country has
been Judged in the past. and it remains to
be seen what the influence Of railroads and
the consequent development will have on
the masses.
The hest part Of Mexico has not been
prospected as yet by the miners. A min
ing engineer who has been travelling in
the southern states of the country, tells
me that the great mines Of the future lie
in the south rather than in the north.
Still the north has been worked for ages.
and gold and silver are turiied out there
by the millions Of dollars worth every
year. Even the northern mining regions
are comparatively little known, and Coll
onel Biyins, weil-known American
miner who owns valuable property in the
state of Guanahuato, tells me that he has
obtained a concession for a Philadelphia
syndicate to some wonderfully rich bit
unknown gold territory on the Westerf
coast Of the country. The agricultural
resources of Mexico are as little known
and have been Is little tested az its mines,
and there is enough untitled land here to
feed the whole United States il it were
cultivated. Just now coffee planting Is
being largely undertaken and new sugar
and coffee fields are being planted in .
number OF the states.
Americans know but little Of the Mexico
Of the present. They would consider il an
evidence of ignorance if Mexican had
never heard of the name of any one of the
United States, but ninety-nine Americans
out of one hundred cannot name without
looking at the geography five Of the
twenty-seyen states which make up this
great republic. and the majority OF them
look upon the whole country az about az
large as one Of our medium-sized states.
The fact is, Mexico is one-hfth as large as
the United States, including Alaska, and
il is six times as big as Great Britain. Ii -
more than three times as large as Ger
many, and you could lose three countries
as big as France inside of il. Across the
top OF it. where like a great horn
it Is fastened TO the United States,
it is as long as Indianapolis is
distant from New York city, and 3 line
drawn from the root of the horn at Cali
fornia catacornered across IL TO its tip &C
Guatemala, would be as long as the dis
lance from New York TO Denver. This
horn is about $50 miles wide ~ the bot
tom or tip. and about 500 miles vide at iEs
roots where il Joins ON to us. In ITS curve