The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-03-24
Strange Mexican Town.


writer in the Mexico City Herald says:
| During a recent visit 10 Cuatula. 1 went
/ one day on horseback with some friends
10 Village about six miles this side OF
| Cuatutla. called Teteitzingo.
This village IS noted for the fact that
/ the primitive Indian customs OF its in
/ habitsnts have been preserved. 1t would
/ not do TO say that those customs nave
| been preserved in their purity, for the
! reason that the cusoms in question are in
| general the worst imaginable. One is the
almost universal habit Of intoxication-
| The information which l had on this
| point was derived from inhabitants OF
/ Cuauda, well informed and educated peo-
/ pie, and from the small opportunities OF
/ personal observation that had al the vii
/ lage itself The drink chiefly consumed
/ by these people IS aguardiente, or the
crude rum manufactured from the sugar
| cane. The drink is consumed by them
( In incredible amounts and the school
master Of Cuautla told me that the Te-
/ teltzingO women, with children still babes
on their backs, after drinking themselves
| from a jicara pass the vessel over their
shoulders 70 their offspring, thus accus-
toming them from their earliest years TO
the most fiery kinds Of intoxicants.
~ z dILlNEu dL 4ElElLZ-4lEt oi4 the -1N4A-
day afternoon preceding carnival Tues
day. AS We passed a cottage we saw
number of masked Indians dancing in the
garden. The men only wore masks, how
ever. though the women, too. had their
faces covered with wells OF white mania
descending from their heads on which
they were secured by a coil Of their hair
The jicara of aguardente was being pass
ed freely round and I noticed that the
men, while partaking freely themselves,
showed special anxiety that the mysteri-
| ously yelled females should swallow the
! liquid fire. The dance was something like
the tarantella, a mere monotonous leap
ing in a given spot. accompanied By a
shaking of all the limbs. Every few sec
/ onds the iicara was passed to one or other
Of the women Ohere were only twOl and
without ceasing the dance they drained
off the contents OF the vessel A number
Of old haks were spectators Of the scene
and all the time they imbibed copiously.
The scene seemed to me so unique that
I called to the group and asked them to
approach the stone fence of the road, into
the little sunlight that remained. so that
I might photograph them. They did as
requested and as they advanced they
brought with them a Whit Of rank alco-
hol that was almost poisonous Unluckily
the sunlight was too faint and the ex-
posures did not give satisfactory results.
Fearing the result we returned 10 Te-
teltzingo again on horseback on the fol-
lowing morning. We found the same
party parading the streets and dancing
at the corners TO the drumming of
single guitar. In justice be il said that
they were not In the same advanced
stage of intoxication as nthe previous
afternoon. This time I got several good
views of them.
Before meeting them we had gone to
the house where we had seen the num-
merry on the previous afternoon, and there
indeed. though il was only 10 o'clock we
found one of the women we had seen on
the previous afternoon simply crazy with
intoxication. The maudlin tears were
continually streaming down her cheeks
and her breath was that of a pest-hOuse.
I asked her to let herself be photo
graphed and with a ready immodesty
that shocked us. she threw aside the sack
that covered the upper part of her body
and displayed her breast as brown and
shriveled as parchment.
Nearly all the women Of the pueblo are
immodest in their dress. the young as
well as the old. Their dress consists Of
a blanket tucked at their waists and
bit of sackcloth. with a hole for the head
hanging down loosely before and behind.
Yet at the doors of some of the cot
tages 1 saw some pretty Indian girls
dressed in a more civilized fashion and
whose looks left nothing to be desired
in point of modesty.
The village has no water. which may
account for the immoderate conpayom
account partly for the immoderate con-
q
ne fetched from the river which flows
in a barracanca more than mile off back
Of the little chapel, called the Calvario
de Teteltzingo, one of the most pictur-
esque and 4poeticaY little shrines that
have seen in Mexico. It is the women
alone who perform this service of going
for water. At any hour Of the day they
may be seen going az the jog-trot which
is peculiar TO the Indian, both male and
female making their way across the
fields to the river, with their jugs poised
on their heads. Often. too, they take
down their clothes and those Of their hus-
bands to be washed. AS we were leaving
the village on the Tuesday morning We
overlook one Of these women and 1 ap-
preached her with a request 70 allow her
self to he photographed. She evidently
did not understand what was wanted and
she shrunk from us with evident distrust
So. seizing nv opportunity. 1 snapped my
camera at her and secured an excellent
photograph But when the apparatus
was pointed at her and she heard the click
Of the shutter. I believe she thought she
had been bewitched, for she started to
run and did not stop till she had reached
the village again. where she waited,
suppose. until we got out OF sight and
then made her trip down to the river.
So inveterate are the vices OF the people
of this village that I have been told the
authorities have more than once dis
cnssed the advisablity Of breaking It up
and distributing the Inhabitants among
the other surrounding villages.
Tatelrzinco IS a strange incrustation or
survival in that generally well conducted
district.
Living in Great Hopes.