The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-07-16

until too late to save himself, had under
gone SO many carvings to get rid of gar
ratotas and xinxins that his shuman
form divne' reminded us of the Abyssin-
ian COW which Stanley says is kept alive
as long as possible by company of wan
dering Abyssinians-a sort of perambu-
lating meat market - having slices cut
from her quivering sides whenever fresh
steak is required. And then the fleas !.
The earth is infested with them, so large
that l do not desire to describe them lest
you doubt my veracity, and so numero us
that donkeys wading through the hot
sands that compose all the roadways, be-
come literally black with them. Gnats
and mosquitoes also, and unnumbered 9TH
er varieties of singing, crawling OF buzz
ing creatures, make both night and day
we'll nigh uncomfortable. Travellers in
Campeche are compelled to wear thick
wells, Notwithstanding the intense heat,
tucked in SO closely that no glimpse of
face OF neck is visible, long leather gaunt-
lets and the tallest of rubber boots Sc
curely tied at the top. The ladies of our
party do not pride themselves much on
their personal appearance when they sal
ly forth on mule back thus caparisoned :;
yet | decline to take Bible oath that
we entirely escaped, despite all precau-
tons, and we shall leave the country thin
ner il not wiser women.
In some respects, nature has been very
kind to Campeche. 1t needs only the
hand OF the husbandman, guided by Anglo
Saxon Judgment and industry, to develop
its riches. There are plenty of rivers for
irrigation, each worth a gold mine. if
properly used for agricultural purposes,
but now comparatively vaIueless because
unemployed. Outside the jungle the
State is vast sandy plain, Egypt like in
monotonous desolation, with no elevations
worth mentioning and covered with cacti
! III endless variety, interspersed with date
palms and Spanish daggers. Land lying
anywhere along the coast can be bought
per sitio de ganado mayo, or about 1900
American acres. With proper irrigation
1t is capable of producing not only all
tropical products, but as good grain as
can be grown anywhere in the world. AL
ready, on the limited acres which are Gull
tivated by the most imperfect methods
and with tho IL 6
Abraham's time, Campeche's annual corn
crop averages in value 81, OPS, OO0 and
similar products in proportion while her
sugar, cotton, coffee and tobacco are
second to none in quality, though yet
small in quantity There is but one rail
way IN the country, that to Minatitlan,
$50 miles long, branch of the celebrated
Tehuantetec route, which reckoned among
Its original promoters such men as Gen.
l. 5. Grant, Marshall @. Roberts, Jose
de Caray and others well known in the
portion OF the way, in course of visit to
the hacienda of Coatzacoalcas- Chico.
whose proprietor promised to show us
not only The modus operandi of tobacco
culture, la Campeche. but where the
logwood, chewing gum, sarsaparilla, in
digo vanilla and ginger come from.
The stranger in Southern Mexico is as
tonished at the nagniticence in which the
wealthy planters live Each is like a
King IN his own extensive domain. abso-
lutte monarch of all he surveys and Lord
OF the lives and destinies of his retainers.
| OF peones, as the laborers of rural Mexico
are called. There is no other house with
IN 70 miles of Coatzcoalcas, except the
straw matched huts of the laborels. all of
which, with the storehouses, chapel and
| other buildings necessary to the wants of
the isolated community, are enclosed
within stone walls, high and strong
enough to withstand a siege. From sala
to kitchen the proprietor's residence is a
model of elegance and comfort suited to
the climate and typical of the rural homes
of wealthy Mexicans. The family altar
room, which none of these good Catholics
could dispense with is not the least at
tractive part of the house. Rare pictures
adorn its walls and in a large glass case is
a figure of the infant Jesus, rather LARGE
wax doll, with eyes that open and shut
and mop of yellow curls upon the head
which the sonora and her daughters make
a religious duty of dressing beautifully in
lace caps and silken robes, adorned with
jewels. On either side of the SLEEPING
babe stand figures of Mary and joseph.
with hands clasped as if in alteration; and
twice day every member of the family
says his prayers and pater nosters before
it. At the far end of the house is the
bath, reached by covered stairway.
Descending 20 feet or more, you come to
a pool OF clear, cool water, about feet
deep, fed by spring. Inside the great
casa are two bath rooms, with tiled floors
and porcelain tubs and all the 'smodern
conveniences;' but everybody who can
swim naturally prefers the outside bath.
The hacienda garden is wonder in its
way. In it are rows of cocoanut, mangoes