The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-04-29

STOPPING figures and the rocks along side
spread with drying linen Farther out,
fl cks of wild ducks disport themselves
undisturbed by the chattering lavenderas,
and the lake abounds in an exceedingly
delicate fish called mojarra. Tradition
says that into the depths of this lake the an
cestors of the Indian fishermen whom we
see padding about in boats of odd pat
tern, threw no end of gold and silver to
preserve it from the hands of their con-
querors. The plan seems to have been
eminently successful, for toward the
centre of the lake the longest line has
failed to find bottom Ancient idols and
bits of pottery are sometimes dragged up
near the shallow shore, particularly on
the side faced with extensive deposits of
of fine pumice, in which, at some remote
where the ancient people may have lived.
The cochineaI hacienda which we were
invited to visit lies about seven miles from
\ matitlan. Al first the road lay along
the Rio Michatoyl, under dropping will
lows: then mounted the hills by weary
zigzlgs- places 50 steep and dangerous,
strewn with loose rolling stones, that we
We're fain to climb on foot and drag the
unwilling mules behind us. And all the
way the nOpal cactus. the ''Indian fig,
CT opmitid cochiH'iid fcrd to be more cor
rect about it-spread its prickly arms on
every side, literally covered with bugs,
swarming far as the eye could see. The
louise tribe and these hereabouts cultivat-
ed, which the Spaniards named cocd;naIid
are of the caccUs c0ct variety. Cattle
ranches, sheep ranches, even chicken
ranches are common enough-but louise
ranch is indeed a curiosity, Fancy living
night and day in the midst of innumer-
able millions Of them-perhaps a thous-
and acres of creeping, crawling. constant
~ increasing insects, Happily the little
! beasts are not migratory in their habits,
but cling with remarkable pertinacity to
their Indian figs, and the culture of them
becomes interesting, when one overcomes
his natural disgust. They require about
the same care that is ordinarily beloved
upon silk worms, 49, md probably it is no
worse to handle crawling than wriggling
things During the last days of May,
Just before the annual rains begin, great
branches of cacti. covered with insects,
are cut off and slowed in sheds erected
for the purpose, to protect them from the
weather At the close of the wet season.
| (about the middle of October, the plan
tations are restocSed from these supplies
This is done by hanging little nests, made
of jute, or any soft, woody fibre, upon
the spines of the growing nopal. each
nest containing Noah that has escaped
the flood and dozen or SO of his wives.
/ Warmed by the tropical sun, they soon
/ sally forth, and replenish the earth with
marvellous rapIdity : each female pro-
ducing more than a thousand young,
which in turn become great grand =
parents in an incredibly short time
The females at once swell to surprising
size and attach themselves so closely to
the nopal as to become almost a part of
it, resembling vegetable excrescences
rather than living creatures. In this con-
dition they are gathered for dye-stuh
none but the pregnant females being val
t1aIla f, ,1, a,4i.a1 ,,1,rnoSac Tho ,,. ls
are comparatively few in nulnber-not
/ more than one to several hundred females
and aIe of no use for colOring material.
As in the higher orders of existence, they
escape most Of the pains and penalties OF
life. The curse OF the Garden for Eve 5
indiscretion seems TO have descended even
upon these insignificant creatures; for
while the males are left to disport them
selves in the sunshine, the females are
picked off with blunt knife and plunged
into boiling water. or are baked in heated
ovens, or on plates of hot iron. The first
crop is gathered about the middle of De-
cember and subsequently there are several
more harvests, of as many successive gen
erations. An expert laborer can pick only
about two ounces of cochinalla in day
and at least two thirds of their weight is
lost in the process of dyeing. AS it re-
quires about TO- 900 of the lice to weigh a
pound. and the average wholesale price OF
the commodity is only so cents pound,
it will be seen that the cochineal business
is not all profit. Now and then bug DIS
temper breaks out and devastates whole
plantations-as in Guatemala few years
ago, when the haciendadoes were COM
PEELED to clear out the whole stock root
and branch, and begin anew. The coccus
are also fed upon by birds, mice and the
larva of other insects-the last named
destroyer sucking out the blood and
leaving only the empty skins. When
the living insects have been MINERS
ed in boiling water they turn to a
reddish brown, and lose the white pow
der with which nature has loaded the
transverse wrinkles of their tiny bodies.
When dried in an oven they retain this