The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-05-12

DeIOf6 save Dy lIle illIetlueuI ldliio- iAuSS
cats and CARS have been far inland from
their accustomed haunts and have returned
slowly as the water crept back within
bounds There will be bad fishing in the
riyer forysome time TO come, because Its
tenants haze been fed to repletion.
The valley of the lower Rio Grande, that
part of it which extends for hundred
miles above old Fort Brown, has been ex-
tremely populous with wild life. Its the
only part of the Union in which 1t has
been possible for man to take Win
chester. walk half mile from his cabin at
sunrise and kill from two to five deer be
fore breakfast 1t has abounded in blue
quails The ordinary cotton tailed rabbit
has lived in it in hundreds of thousands.
1t is beloved that the quails and the rab-
bits have been practically exterminated,
because the water rose so fast that they
had no chance at all for their lives.
The quails, of course, jumped into the
trees when the water came, but when the
trees themselves went under and there
were unbroken miles of food between them
and the foothills they had no choice save
to drown. The rabbits went to such spots
as were left uncovered, and when these
got wet the rabbits got wet, toe. Men
who rowed about the valley before 1t be
came lost to view entirely tell strange tales
of the terror of the stricken beasts
terror of the water so fell that they turned
to their hereditary enemy, man, for com
fort and tried TO crowd into the skitfs As
they passed near to them, huddled upon
some bit of rising ground soon to be over
flowed An excellent opportunity was at
forded to destroy predatory animals, such
as bobtailed cats aud leopard cats, but no
body took the trouble to dc it, knowing
that the brutes were doomed to death any
how Neither did any one take the trou-
bic to knock the hundreds of rattlesnakes
from the trees into which they had climbed
in the hope of escaping extinetioa Or
dinarily the RATHER is not tree-elimber.
but in food such rs that which Is passing
away ali natural habits are reversed and
pretty nearly all natural laws
Indeed, the gloom of the food, the 81
lence of it and the utter severance of the
people from the outside world have had
such effect that few men have thought Of
sport at all They have spent the time
listening to stories brought in Of the de
struction of ranches, the loss OF stock the
drowning of various unfortunate Mexican
families and wondering when the trenen-
dous mass Of water would find its way 20
the Gulf leaving the drenched aud clean
swept land once more TO dry in peace,
Common foods in the Rio Grande are
rather enjoyable than otherwise They
mean that il has rained heavily and the
country always needs rain. Such casual
ties as occur up the river do not disturb
the valley jewellers particularly because
the Mexican Is always fatalIstlc aud he
views the death OF somebody else with
equanimity. The river il just high enough
to make it picturesque and the los OF crops
Is comparatively trifing. When one OF
these floods comes down in July, a. often
happens. the Young men Of the llidAl-a
amuse themselves By gathering en the
bank, plunging into the torrent aud, after
sgim Of fifty yards or "a. laying hold Of
watermelon vine and tagging It hbDr
iously to shore. Always attached % the
vine are from i've to fifteen huge uPc
melons. They are piled upon the bank
until they make a pyramid : feet high and
10 feet through at the base. Then the
small Mexican children Of the village
gather about aud feast. L. Is some fun
swimming for watermelons, there being
enough danger 10 il 10 add spice but ar
this time there Is no fun at all IN watching
bodies 20 by or in counting the floating
cabins.
There will be- considerable desgitalian
among the people, who are poor and i'm
prosidest, but it viii be only temFarary.
The soil Of the valley II 80 rich aud the
climate Is 81 void Of anything that might
be called winter that it is possible lor an
industrious man 10 raise four crops ia Que
year from one piece Of ground II is true
that the Mexican Is lar from industrious
and il takes Rio tirande flood to make
him work but ia a month the rcplan,ed
crop viii be sprouting as gayly as II moth
ing had happened and the harvesting wall
be only a little delayed The Indian corn,
which was swept away or drowned by the
water, was more than waist high and rtast
| ing ears would have been plentiful ia
another two weeks However. the farm
ers will have roasting ears in the early part
Of June as it is, and the field pea, which
Is about the only ether thing they plant.
| will grow all the better for the soaking the
soil has had Ii Is the sort Of ground
which when tiekled with crooked stick
laughs in harvest, and crookea stick
Is the nearest approach to plough that
many of the Mexican ullers know. Il i
a country Of bananas, too, in plenty Va
rious forms Of plantains and other natural
breadstuffs. Indeed, the average inhabii-
ant of the valley Of the lower Rio Grande
is perfectly competent to pull through
disastrous season on pear apples alone, if
put to it. Pear apples are the purplish
oblong fruit, about the size Of hen egg,
which grows on the ends Of the broad 81
iptical leaves of the priekly pear tpro-
duees chills and fever in one not used to it,
but the Mexicans are all used to il and it
contains great amount Of nutrition.
While the passing food was in its stage
of increase a good many village Hampdeus
exposed their dauntless breasts to danger
without any expectation Of reward, think
ing, indeed, little about IT, There had
been more than one notable instance Of
heroism. Jose Bermaiaa, who Is com
mon vaquero, or rider of unbroken horses,
on the ranch of Don Jose Sanchez, ten
miles above the place, swan his horse a
quarter of mile five times in bringing out
a Mexican woman, named Candelarie Gar
cia and her four small children who were
imprisoned in a jacal near the bank Of the
river The food had poured around be
hind the house cut it off from the higher
land TO the east and made an island of the
place wherein it stood Her husband was
away down the river when the rise came
and has not yet been heard from. He
may have been drowned Bermaiaa
brought the children out one at a time.
went back for the woman and got her out,
| too. As his horse was unable to bear the
weight Of the two, he placed her aAtraddIe
of the saddle, tied her to it, started the
/ 4 -. Il