The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-04-17

1fcSn from their. Drlny homes, anu we
voted the old Frlnch city just as jolly
and good as ever. We missed the old
st. Charles, which has been destroyed
by fire since our last visit, but the old
landmark has been replaced by q suc--
cessor, beautiful in the extreme, and
the same old courteous management
made us feel as If we owned the house.
Even "Mardi Gras" has an end, and on
the morning of the 10th we crossed the
river and started Westward; passing
through miles and miles of sugar plan
tations, we We're given practical illus
tration of the manner in which fertiliza-
ton lis carried on upon them, the
crushed and dried stalk of the last crop
of cane being carefully and evenly
spread by hand over the field is set on
fire and thoroughly charred. although
not entirely consumed; it is then plowed
under, as the ground is prepared for
the new crop We dashed through
prairies of tall dry grass, studded with
densely wooded knobs, looking like
islands in brown sea, and into the
dense Cyprus swamp with its trees
loaded down with the graceful long
grey Spanish moss, and its carpet of
palm leaf fans in their natural condi-
ton. As evening came on and the burn
ing grass in the old rice fields lit up the
: landscape in every direction, it made
sight long to be remembered.
This portion of the trip through
Louisiana, over the Southern Pacific so
perfectly denominated 1.-The Sunset
Route" carries one through most
wonderful species ofland-how it would
be appreciated by our northern farm
ers--there is land upon which most
everything that is sown or planted can
be raised, but upon which weed is
thing unknown. We were assured that
corn could be sown broadcast and then
left to itself until it was ready to harv-
est; we were told some things that we
thought should have been accompanied
by aifidavits. On we went through
Texas until at q. m. On the
Goth we reached San Antonio, and
of course made. a straight line for
that most historic and interesting spot,
the Alamo. We stood in the room where
Davy Crockett, Col. Bowie, TRAY
is, and two hundred men, were killed
on March 6, 1886 by Santa Annals men,
1t was the room in which men chose
death rather than retreat The day
previous, Travis, who was in command,
drew line across the floor of the room
and asked those who wished to stay and
die with him to cross il; all but one man
crossed the line, Bowie, who was too
i'll to move, requesting that the men
pick up his cot and carry it across; the
man that refused to cross, was allowed
to leave during the night and made
good his escape; of the balance not one
remained alive. Bowie (of Bowie knife
fame) was killed as he lay on his cot,
but not until he had made three of his
assailants fall before his unerring mark
manship. Most of the buildings and
walls composing the fortifcation of that
day have fallen to decay, but this room,
in which the final stand was made, is
still in good state of preservation, not
Withstanding the fact that it was built
of mud and stones over two hundred
years ago.
We drove out to the missions of San
Jose and of the Conceptions; they were
built by the Monks in desolate wilder
ness in 1871 and still have man y parts
in fair state of preservation; especial
ly is this true of the carved stone wort
which must have heen executed by the
Monks themselves. San Antonio has
running through it, quite large river
probably twenty feet wide, and it neces-
states the maintenance of some twenty
five or thirty bridges. What makes it
more peculiar is the fact, that the river
rises entirely within the limits of the
city. The government has large mill
tary reservation there and it makes
beautiful suburban addition, located as
it is on one of the hills that overlook
the city
Continuing our journey westward we
passed out of the United States at two
o'clock on the morning of the 2lst, turn
ing out at that unseemly hour to pay
our respects to the customs officials of
Mexico, on the west bank of the Rio
Grande; it was short call, and we were
soon back in our berths again. When
morning broke we were in scenes that
were new indeed, the bare white ground
dotted in all directions with cactus, of
all varieties, from the common prick
ly pear to the nine foot century Ora
cenas and Spanish dagger palm, worth
small fortune with us at home, were
here growing wild in the greatest pro-
fusion. We also found ourselves suddenly
rich, our money having doubled in pur-
shasing power since crossing the Rio
Grande, one of our dollars being now
good for one dollar and eighty five
cents; popularity of which was, that
both the gold bugs and the free silver
ties of our party Immediately seized up
on it as an argument in favor of their
side of the great financial question.
The native Mexican with his tall
straw sombrero and his parti colored
zerape is picturesque in the extreme, as
is also his mounted brother who affects
the felt sombreo and leather clothes, all
of which are profusely ornamented with
silver, as is also the saddle upon which
he sits; to such an extreme do they car
ny this decoration that saddles valued
at 5000 may be seen in the stores. The
scene at the stations are no. ell enough,
and one can hardly believe that he is no
further from home TIE dark skin of
the native, the men in their bright
zerapes and ponchos, the women in
their shawls n yard wide and with no
limit as to length, but always gracefully
draped over their heads and around
their shoulders, (and incidentally around
the baby the boys in their sandals and
such other slight articles of clothing
as they may have been able to rescue
from the family rag-bag, with eyes