Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-31

eye, and 1 know it was with conscious
pride that l told my friends at La Paz that
l was going to travel with the mails. |
noticed that some Of them rather smiled
at the idea, and that others seemed to pity
rather than admire. This at the time l at
tributed to jealousy, envy or ignorance. 1
know better now. I know what the Boliv-
ian mail coach is. I had my first sight OF
it at 6 o'clock of the morning Of my start
ing. 1t was the baggage wagon Of the
stage, and the only seat on it was the one
with the driver. 1t was, in fact, a skeleton
wagon on springs. The bed was so far
up in tn. air that you could almost walk
under it without STOPPING. The wagon bax
was not over six inches high, and how it
was supposed that a ton and a half OF mail
and trunks could be put into it / could not
see. had my baggage buried out, and it
went in at the bottom. The other pieces
were piled on top until there was a noun
tain of stuff on the wagon. 1t now looked
more like a hay wagon coming to the barn
in harvest time than the royal mail. A
rawhide rope was bound round and round
the baggage, being run through hooks in
the sides of the wagon bed, and the bag
gage was covered with canvas to shield 1t
from the rain. By this time the mules
were in their places, and l was told to
climb to my seat beside the driver. 1t was
at least seven or eight feet above the
ground. and the soft side of the board was
the only cushion, until ! improvlsed an
other of some blankets. The coach rode,
however, very comfortably, and the springs
were as good as any / have ever tried. A
great discomfort was the lack of cover
when 1t rained and showed, as it did sew
eral times during the journey. At such
! tr-~ A@"lI II.
and my Bolivian cap. This latter is a knit
ted affair, covering the head and face, with
holes for the eyes, nose and mouth. 1t
makes one look actually devilish, but 1t is
such a comfort that 1t should be adopted
for winter travelling and sleigh riding in
our country.
and Mule.
My coachnen In livery were In fact Be-
livian Cholos. They were half breeds, a
cross OF the spaniards and the Aymara In
dian, and as cruel a mixture as you will
find among the races. They had no sypma-
thy whatever for the mules and their treat
ment of them was so cruel that / several
times protested against it. d In the first
place the harness was twisted all out of
shape. There was not a tug that was
straight and not a collar that fit. AS a re-
suit the necks of the animals were raw and
sore, and this became worse as we went on
the gallop over the road. / remember one
little yellow mule who had lost two patches
OF skin, each as big as the palm OF your
hand, from the front of his shoulders be-
fore he was put into the harness. ! OBJ
Jected to taking him, as there were other
and better mules in the corral, but he was
bitched up all the same and was given one
OF the hardest places in the team. This
was just below me, next to the wagon and
right under the driver, We started off on
the gallop, but the little fellow soon began
10 lag behind. Then the torture began.
The driver cut at him with a whip, which
brought the blood to the hide at almost
every place it touched, and the helper, who
ran along with the coach and whipped up
the lazy mules, picked out the little yellow
fellow as his special work. We had not
gone five miles before the back of the
mules legs were bleeding in a half dozen
different places, and I could see that his
collar was red from the blood of the sores
on his neck. From time TO time | noticed
that the driver when he found his whip
ping and whistling failed TO stir up the
mules took up a heavy tug with an iron
chain and ring at the end OF 1t and ratified
1t. This never failed TO frlghten the mules
1 into increased speed. Is the little yellow