The Mena weekly star., 1896-09-09
LIFE IN SOUTHERN MEXICO.
Planters Live in Luxury and Reign Over
 Many Vassals.


 The stranger in southern Mexico is astonished at the magnifcence in which the wealthy planters live. Each is like a king in his own extensive do- main, absolute monarch of all he sur veys and lord of the lives and destinies | of his retainers, CT peons, as the 1 laborers of rural Mexico are called. There is no other house within 20 miles of Goatzcoalcas except the straw matched huts of the laborers, all of which, with the storehouses. chapel and other buildings necessary to the wants of the isolated community. are inclosed 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 fam | fly altar room, which none of these good Catholics could dispense with, is not the least attractive part of tise house. Rare pictures adorn it's walls. and in large | glass case is figure of the infant Jesus "a rather large wax doll, with eyes that 1 open and shut and d mop of yellow cuTls l upon the head-which the sonora and her daughters make a religious duty of dressing beautifully in lace caps and silllen robes, adorned with jewels. On either side of the sleeping babe stands figures of Mary and Joseph, with hands | clasped as if in adoration, and twice a day every member of the family says i his prayers and paternosters before it. 1 At the far end of the house is the bath, reached by a covered stairway De- scending 20 feet or more, you come to pool of clear, cool water, about seven feet deep, fed by spring. Inside the | great casa are two bathrooms with tiled floors, porcelain tubs and all modern conveniences," but everybody who can swim naturally prefers the outside bath. The hacienda garden is won | der in its way Tn it are rows of cocoa- nut. mangoes and red pear trees, clumps of oranges and lines, thickets of figs and pomegranates, while the flower beds. raised a foot from the ground and bordered with beautiful shells bedded in mortar, are filled with roses. mar cissus, tuberoses and other flowers com mon enough at home, but here almost unrecognizable as the familiar favor ites, because grown to such greater per- lection.
 | But even this paradise has its draw backs. For one thing, there is little good drinking water in Campeche, and no such thing as ice to be had for Hove or money" While each family has a well, the water coming from depth enough to keep it moderately cool, the salt in it renders it unfit to drink. Therefore, rainwater is kept in tanks and cooled by evaporation in porous jars. But few people in the tropics drink any water straight" so to speak. Chocolate is invariably served at break fast and coffee with dinner, and always claret or other wines with the food. And then there are a hundred delicious and cooling beverages concocted from oranges, Times, pineapples and seeds. The national bread-''tortillas" (not the tortillas of Mexico) )-is made from cornmeal, which, by the way, is now selling in Campeche at the rate of s24 a barrel, so that bread is beyond the reach of the poorer classes. Bananas. however, are the ''staff of life" here abouts. eked out to be tortillas of crushed corn, la Mexican. Butter, brought from New York and Denmark costs from SO cents to S1 pound 1: cheese, 30 cents; fresh beef, 37 cents but happily, fish. the finest in the world, and luscious fruits of many varieties are plentiful and cheap. Philadelphia Record.