Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-15

sorry, but is now voluntary. The law says
that no servant can leave his employer as
long as he owes him money, and 1t has al
ways been the practice to sell the tenants
of an estate supplies in excess of their
income to keep hold upon them
But that is very seldom necessary. The
native Mexican is always attached to his
home and loyal to his patrone, and it would
be impossible to drive him away. And the
relations between the haciendado and his
poems Is patriarchal. Many or the young
people are leaving the plantations and go
Ing to the Cities the number is increa sing
every year. They are attracted by higher
wages and social excitement. The same is
true in every farming country, but IN Mex
ico no matter where a peon may go, or
how long he may stay, be 1t month or
lifetime, the hacienda upon which ne was
born and raised is always his home, and
he can always s go r oafs 70 som I. ana receive
Most of the tenants work pieces OF
ground on shares. Others receive nominal
wages-25 or 80 cents day-put tnese
wages are only part of their compensa-
ton They have their cabins, little pieces
OIL ground free for gardens and are sup
piled with corn, beans and other necessa-
ries of life from the general store
characteristics of the Natives.
The natives of the isthmus are considered
much more intelligent and farther aa-
vanced than the Aztecs In central ana
northern Mexico, and, judging from the
ruins that are scattered all over this pat
OF the republic. their ancestors reached
higher degree of civilization than the suo-
jects of Montezuma. They knew the ART
o: tempering copper; they built palaces an
temples of stone instead Of sun-drled pricNs
and their religion was not SO cruel, al
though there is evidence that they made
human sacrifices.
THE Moons in southern Mexico are of
lsrger stature than those farther north.
They more temperature In their haoi.s
and more independent of disposition i neg
viii drop work at any time ana go 20 a
feast to celebrate some patflotic dnhiVei
sary, but they do not get SO drunk anu
are usually capable of resuming work the
next day. They have no pulque, but MAKE
a wine from the palm and have liquor can
ed "Comoteca," made at a place caiiea
| Comotan, a sort of cane brandy, Wnlch 10
more intoxicating than pulque but Is not
/ SO demoralizing. The Indians are INDUS
trious, honest and obedient, but they nave
no aspirations or desire to improve their
condition or to acquire property. once IN
a while you find a peon VINO mas sdVed
enough TO buy a little home or open d
tienda, which is small shop, but the great
majority are satisfied TO live on in the same
| old way
The women are more prudent and eco
nomical than The men, and in the absence
| of savings banks they invest their sur
| plus in gold coins and wear them as orna-
ments. They insist, however, upon having
American gold usually one-dollar and f1ve-
| dollar pieces, which are sent out from vera
Cruz TO the country merchants. 1t Is SAID
that this custom originated at the time
of the California gold excitement when
large numbers OF forty-niners crossed the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec, paying THEN Way
in gold and scattering it lavishly among
the natives The women claimed the coins
and used them for ornaments. almost every
woman you see in the market place has
string of American gold dollars or fiye-doi-
lar gold pieces around her neck and one
woman in the town of Tehuantepec, We
were told, wears IS 600 worth of such or
naments when she goes to ball, chiefly In
chains which she wears in her hair and
around her neck and waist; and yet, with
this burden of wealth she always goes bare
footed. All the women of the working