The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-09-06

of this brandy is made in Mexico every
wear. Il produces drunkenness very
quickly. Mexicans have some good wines,
but they are very dear, and an ordinary
claret costs 81 q bottle. The chief drinks
at meals are coffee and chocolate, and the
Mexican chocolate is delicious. 1t IS
Favored with cinnamon and is served
quite sweet. There is always foam on
the top Of the cup, and in all the Mexican
markets you will find chocolate mixers.
little wooden stick with knob on the end
much like that of baby's rattle. You
stand these on end in the chocolate and
make the knob go around by whirling the
stem between the palms Of your hands.
WHAT THE NExrcAss EAT.
Before came to Mexico I was told that
would find nothing good TO eat in the
country. Every one said that the hotels
were horrible. and my friends patted their
stomachs and looked at me with cofnmiser-
ating eyes. They said that everything
Mexican was q mixture of red pepper and
grease, and that the only good hotels in
the country were those kept by the Amer
leans who had gone there. / ventured
into the land with fear and trembling. and
at first patronized the American hotels. j
found them dear and nasty. The cooking
was abominable and the service was worse.
1 then tried a Mexican hotel and found 1t
excellent. Some Of the best meals | have
ever had / have eaten in Mexico, and
shall not soon forget dinner at Ioiuca,
where a pretty Mexican boy gave me
dinner OF ten courses, and where the
cuisine was equal to that of a good Paris
restaurant. Throughout Southern Mex
leo | found splendid hotels. They were
often kept in old monasteries, ana at Zaca-
tecas / slept in a big room oil ciolster.
where the door was four inches thick and
the key weighed pound. One END OF my
room opened out on garden, winch con,
stituted the center of the building, and
every night | could walk around this IN
the moonlight and see IL soften the out
lines of the great MOORISH dome OF the
monastery which looked down upon me.
The cooking here was good and the same
was the case at Guanahuato. The Mex
leans serve their meals one dish at time
in table d hote style, and they begin din
ner with soup and end it with beans. The
waiter at the hotel brings a bowl of soup
to you and you ladle out as much as you
want. After soup you have half dozen
different kinds OF meat and vegetables
served separately and you close with a
dessert and coffee. Mexican frijoles always
form part of the meal. These are pro-
ncunced freeholies and they are Mexican
black beans. They are superior TO the
Boston baked beans and every one eats
them. They are never eaten on the day
they are cooked, and they are always
served in great abundance. They close
the meal as rice closes dinner in Japan,
and ] suppose the idea is that the man who
has not had enough of other things can I'LL
up on beans.
VERY QUEER NEAT WAGONS.
Only the better classes of Mexicans eat
meat and one of the great fields of Amer
lean investment is in the packing inter-
ests of Mexico. Ham and beef bring high
prices, and the meat business of the city
is managed by monopolies. Good beeyes
are worth from s25 to $50 head, and there
is more mutton eaten than beef. A great
deal of the beef comes from Guanahuato,
and the meat wagons of this city are
mules. Take one of the greasiest, dirtiest
mules you can find and fasten frame
work of hooks to a saddle on his back. Let
this framework extend about foot above
the mule and on the hooks hang the
halves and quarters of beeves so that the
blood drips from them on the ground and
so that when the mules are small the meat
almost touches the ground, and you have
the Mexican butcher cart of the mountains.
The butcher or meat peddler wears great
blanket about his shoulders, a broad
brimmed hat on his head and his feet are
bare. 1t you buy quarter Of beef he will
carry it into your house on his head, and if
you want slice he will hack off a piece
the neck as the loin. The Mexicans sell
every part OF the animal, and in every
market you will find little cook shops in
which shreds Of beef are tried and offered
for sale. These are for the Indian custom
ers, who stand about and eat the greasy
morsel with their fingers, and without the
use Of knife, fork or plate. In Mexico
City the butchering is more carefully done
and beef Is comparatively cheap. You
can get roast for Is cents pound, but
pork is more expensive. The pork busi-
ness Of Mexico City is controlled by a Mex
lean who has made millions out of it, and
he Is now putting up one Of the biggest
packing houses in the world. He has his
agents all over the city and he imports his
hogs from Kansas.
THE LAND or THE FRY.
Mexico Is the land of the fry. Nearly
every kind of meat is cooked in lard and
the consequence is that lard is very high
prices. 1t costs 81 cents pound, and it
largely takes the place of butter. 1t Is
very hard to find good butter in Mexico.
That made by the natives is largely from
goats milk. IL is as white as smear-case
cheese and is dressed without salt. A
smart American has started dairy in
Mexico City. He has Jersey cows and
gets from IS cents to 81 pound for his
butter, and proportionately as high prices
for his milk. My sister accompanies me
during my Mexican tour and she has not
eaten bite of butter since We entered the
republic about two months ago. IL was in
connection with her that | had very
funny experience at the hotel in Monterey.
/ had understood that there was an Amer
ican dairy near the town and | noted that
the butter on the table was of beautiful
yellow, and that it tasted much better
than the goat butter | had been eating at
other points. i urged my sister TO try ii,
saving that il was American butter and
that il came from the dairy, and with this
] took a big bite ont of piece of bread
that was spread with it. This moment n
burly Texan across the table interrupted
me, saying: stranger, that amt Ameri-
can butter; that's margarine"
You will find good chickens all over
Mexico and there seems to be plenty of
game. Chickens are peddled around in
coops on the backs of men, and now and
then you will see an Indian with perhaps
two dozen tied together by the legs and
thrown over his shoulders. He goes with
these from house 10 house and sells them.
Eggs are sold in the market in little piles
of four TO the pile, and not by the dozen,
as We sell them, and note that in some
places the eggs are packed in corn husks
for shipment. Everything in the Mexican
market seems TO be sold in piles and
could ind no standard OF measurement
except the eve. There were piles of four
tomatoes, of six little potatoes, of hand
ful of red peppers and of other little
l. i Il