Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-18

street. The houses have gre.. windows COW
cred with iron bars. and out o. these look the
beautiful girls for which Jalars ia famous.
They have blue eyes. dark hair and eyebrows
and their compilations are OF the richest OF
cream Not a lew OF them have rosy cheeks
and caught many beautiful picture with M
camera a. / passed through the streets The
ground floors of the houses axe level
with the sidew ak and you can look through
these windows right into the houses and see
the red-tied fOurs. the walls frescoed in CAV
colOrs and the garden of tropical plants which
forms the court ward. about which the house is
built The people did not seem to resent in
spection and the fair senoritas laughed when
pointed the camera at them. and found them
kinder and better looking than tie people of
any other part Of the Mexican republic The
MeXicans themselves have proverb concerning
them They say that Jalapa is a part of heaven
let down to earth and the proyerb is. Las
Jslapenas son halaguenas. or .'Bewitching and
aIlurlng are the women Il Jaapa-"
The town - IN the center of the richest of
the coffee regions of Mexico. IL has about
1f.OgO people and Il ~ the most old-fashioned
city Of this old-fashiOned country. Its trade is
very great. however. and tor twelve years the
only connection IL had with the seaport has
been this street car line, which runs from
10 TO Vera Cruz Now the Interoceanic
railroad OF Mexico runs from the capital
10 it. II was opened within a few
weeks, and within few weeks more the
line from Jalaps TO Vera Cruz will be completed
and the tramway will be given up. II was
thought that the grades were too steep to be
mounted by steam. but modern invention and
engineering have proved the mistake The iron
horse within month at the latest will super
oede the mules and the crack OF the whip of the
Mexican Jehu will be lost in the shrek of the
narrow gauge Locomotives.
THE LONG HORSE CAR RIDE
The cars leave Jalapa early in the morning.
They are first and second class and the only
difference between them is tina. the iirst-class
train has better cushioned seats and less pas
sengers than the second class. Each car con-
tains SIX seats, Is about fifteen feet long and
open a. the sides. The seats RIM right across
the cars instead % MP and down. and the driver
stands on the front platform with four lines in
his hand, by which he guides four
fhe hvellest mules you will
ind in Mexico He drives them a,
q gallop all the time and We change every hour
and go on deal run up hill and down.
Let me give you a picture OF our ride: We
paid Olr fare at the depot II was little over
~. AMI a. We took our seats in the car a light
rain began 20 fall. We drove FIR { through the
long. harrow streets of Jalapa, whose doors and
windows are hlled with faces smiling a kind
farewell. AMI then on out into the country
Inc road was hat on which Cortez marched
Win his troops. and 1t il the same
road over which the American army
came under Gen. Scctt when il
captured Mexico City. Near Jalapa it is wide
and rugged and paved with cObblestone-. A
mick vegetation grows at each side Of il and
sne stone fences which line 1t are as moss
grown as those about Cork and Killarney in
south Ireland The fields back OF thee are
fun OK the signs OF prosperity. The grass is as
green as that OF England and il covers the
hills on every side for miles. There are naby
neids OF corn and this Is in tassel and 1 see
roasting ears bursting forth such as we have in
August Here 10 a man blowing and n cu, in
the Held shows re that the rich brown loam il
from SIX 10 eight feet deer. and a Nexicap look
out rom his big sombrero or the sea. in front
OF me ard tells me that tins land is worth a.
much 90 suburban lots about washinpton
II 10 curious to note the stages OF the same cro,
IN almost the same fields. Here is a held ~
corn in ear, and next to il you see another with
the sprouts Just shooting from the ground.
This ground win produce two crops Of corn
year, and IL never needs fertilization. Now we
are shaded 81 tall, ~ido-les s s Sannes
plants, whose heads bend over, and
upon many Of which there are long
brown blossoms or buds big as an ear Of
corn The coffee bushes are full of ripe red
berries and the fora and the trees are wonde<
fully beautiful. Here is . Buena Soches tree
thirty feet high, crowned with great red
sora< which are Of the same size and shape as
the Gala lily, and below them are the long yell
low tsndrils of the Mexican love plant. which
have wrapped themselves around the moscow
ereo fences and shine like sapPhires under the
rain and the sun. The rain Of the morning is
now closing with q sunshower. and the dark
cones trees are covered with drops of diamonds
set into their emerald leaves.
ORCHIDS ri THE MILLION.
few miles from Jalapa We go into forest
and here We first see the Mexican orchid. They
increase as We 60 onward until they cover the
forest and hang down in great punches, makine
the trees look - though they were studded
with porcupines decorated with the most won
dsrfully shaped and beautiful flowers These
orchids are Of more than an hundred varieties
They are Of al shapes snd colors and you find
them on al sorts Of treesL You could
hsvs . car Load hero for the picking, and
~ hang over the road and fairly