Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-25

TERRA INCOGNITA
To Nearly All Texans is the
Rio Bravo Border.
ESSENTIALLY SPANISH IN ALL
Customs, Language, Religion, SuperstitiOns
and Practices.
A Revelation to the Soldiers and Core
spondents Who Penetrated the Sec
ton During the Pursuit of the
RevoIutionists-No Intende.
ESSENTIALLY SPANISH IN ALL
snecial to the Gazette.

special inc OaLeIle-
AUSTIN, TEX, Feb. 19.-The efficiency of
modern news service, aided by the enter
prise of correspondents in the field, have
given more minute detail and wider range
TO the circulation of the general information
secured relative to the recent attempted
revolution which found its birth ia the fer
tile brain of Catarino Cara, and its cradle
in the romantic Rio Bravo borderlahd, than
has been the case in any other similar affair
for many years.
In every land where the press turns out
papers for the amusement and Improvement
of the people, the story of Cara and his
thus far futile attempt to inaugurate an
other Mexican inSurrection has been told,
but it would be more than difficult for those
who have read, to realize the peculiar char
aeteristics of the place and people in whose
midst this international cOmedy-drama has
been enacted. Graphically though the
events OF the border disturbance have been
told, descriptions of their surroundings, if
given at all, have been more than meager.
1t was with varied sensations set out on
my recent mission for TIE GAZETTE. L
knew l was going to meet with much
that would seem strange to me, but l was
by no means prepared TO find so many pc
culiar features, both in the face of nature
and in the habits of man, as came before
my observation during my sojourn near the
Rio Grande.
with sleet and snow on the ground, in San
Antonio l waded around in the mud, while
a ais2greeable rain drizzled from a dreary
looking sky, and when reached the town
of Alice next day and left the railroad, 1
found myself in the midst of country
where L was told there had not been good
rain in two years.
Joining company of rangers, Irode with
them by day and BY night through the sue
ceeding fortnight, and the. practical knowl-
edge gained about the country and the peo-
pie of that peculiar section bordering the
north bank of the Rio Grande could
hardly have been picked up in any other
way, nor could more novel or entertain
ing means Of exploring the country be de-
vised. Trust the instinct of Nineteenth
century newspaper correspondent, escorted
by company of Texas rangers, to see all
that was to be seen and to note every sight
and every occurrence out of the ordinary.
There are many people in the United
States who will find it difficult to realize
that there is anywhere in our country
section so foreign in all its elements that
once in its midst one might easily imagine
himself in a foreign land. Even in Texas
it is hard to comprehend that such is the
case and many Texan will look upon his
informant with superlative increduIty
when told that the borders of his own great
state embrace broad tract OF country
where such conditions exist.
Over two centuries ago Spanish mission
aries penetrat ted into Southern and West
ern Texas, there planting the banners OF
the church, and leaving as temporal monu-
ments to tleir labors those old missions
which, in romantic ruins, invite the admir-
alton and wonder of the people of to-day.
The cloud was rifted for i moment; the
sunlight of civilization peered IN brightly,
but briefly; the clouds rolled together again
and year succeeded year, in which this vast
expanse was an unknown, unheard OF land
In later times have come the railroad ana
attendant progress, but with the utmost
advancement the country in the midst of
which Senior Cara saw fit to set his revo-
lutionary enterprise on foot, presents pecu-
liarities interesting and oftentimes puz-
cling.
The inhabitants are chiefly Mexicans, and
though there are occasionally Castllians OF
higher class than the ordinary Mexican,
and even Americans OF culture and rehne-
ment, they are few and far between, and
the vast dominant element is Mexican, and
Mexican of that peculiar border character
istic which distinguishes it as a different
caste from the inhabitants of the land of
MonteZuma beyond the river. The higher
class of Mexicans and the progressive
Americans who have settled IN the country,
hold the lands, and their herds find sus-
tenance in vast pastures, oftentlmeS en-
bracing hundreds Of thousands OF acres
within one stretch of fence.
Travel through this country would be
somewhat monotonous but for the gates.
loads and highways wind about among the
clapparal and cactus, finding their way
FROM pasture to pasture Every Enclosure
is e uttered by means of a gate, which every
one who opens must shut again behind him.
The chapparal, branching thickly on every
side, interspersed with the threatening,
thorny leaves of the cactus or prickly pear,
and thu. intervening stretches of barren
soil, are firing To look at, and even the exer-
else of getting down to drag a gate open,
and getting up after 1t has been dragged
shut agaiR, is relief
IF 1T WOULD ONLY RAIN
this country would be paradise. The
soil is rich enough and every slight shower
is succeeded by q percepti6le growth,
which. however. speedily succumbs TO the
dry, hot season that follows. II cannot be
that the country is always the dry, not
desert found it, for the only industry fol-
lowed is the raising Of cattle and sheep,
and that industry cannot prosper without
grass on which the focks and herds may
feed. The substantial houses which many
Of the ranchmen have built give evidence of
past prosperity, yet the indifference with
which the inhabitants look upon the dis
tress and restitution which follow in the
footsteps of drouth shows that they are
not unused to it
Each ranch is q little village in itself,
with the rough homes OF the laborers clus-