Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-10
WISE MEXICAN MULES

ut Is trite to say that mules are brainy.
but the mules of old Mexico. I believe.
| have something on all mules the world
over for individuality Of character, and, II
| 1 may be credited. with a sort Of prescience
| Of their own" said a man who has spent
| many years in the neighboring republic.
"A Mexican mule will do just SO much
| work and no more. They're used for all sorts
| OF purposes down there. We vastly prefer
| them to horses for riding over the noun
| tains on account Of their superiority in the
| matter Of sure-footedness. their instinct
| for the correct path without being guided.
| and their undertaking endurance. The
| Mexican mule has twice as much Of what
| you might call get-there-ness as the horse.
! He'll stick at his amble without break
| until he has done what he knows to be his
! days stunt, and that stunt is invariably a
big one.
But you can't get a Mexican mule to
| do anything more than what he knows to
| be his days work. Such thing would be
| impossible. The riding mule Is fully aware
! of the distance. down to the rod. he is sup
| posed and required to traverse in the prog
| ress Of one travelling day, and all the sharp
sticks goads dynamite on earth won't
get him to do a bit more than what he
knows to be the correct distance.
! The Mexicans have got a peculiar say
/ ing in connection with this stubbornness
| of the Mexican mule when he Is asked to
| do more in a day than he knows to be
| right. You ask a Mexican, for instance.
how far it is. by muleback. to such and
| such a point.
1.-TWO days journey II you are not
| rushed. but three days If you are in a
| hurry the Mexican will reply.
HE means that If you don't ask any
| more of your mule than you should ask
| him. the mule will be able to make the
| trip you have in mind within the two
days. But if in hurry and not acquainted
with the ways of Mexican mules. you at
tempt to drive the animal. he'll soldier on
| you, will that mule. and delay and hold you
at every stage Of the game once he finds
| that you are trying to make him do more
than the contract and the tradition calls
for, and. in consequence, the journey will
take you three days.
There's no chance on earth of pushing
a Mexican mule forward once he makes up
his mind that he's done his bit for the day
and it should be said for him that he
| never so makes up his mind until he has
pei formed the whole task. He doesn't
want any favors from you and is willing
| out the least urging. But when his por-
ton of the entertainment Is finished. that's
sufficiency. so far as he's concerned. He's
through. You might as we'll hay him down
il he makes up his mind that it's time to
cult when you reach a camp. or. If you're
out IN the open when he reaches the same
conclusion, it's up to you to dsmourt and
make yourself and him comfortable for the
night. for that's as far as he's going. No
Mexican will think OF urging a mule when
the mule stops of his own volItion at the
end of his days stunt The Mexican Knows
that it can't be done, and the tenderfoot
who tries 1t soon finds out. The mule
stock still. merely regards the tenderfoot
out of his eyes with the inscrutableness Of
the Sphinx. but he doesn't locomote any
more You can build a fire under him,
and he'll take few steps out Of the way
OF the blaze and smoke. but that's all. He
won't carry you forward.
Now for the precedence of the Mexican
mule of which I spoke I don't know what
else to call 1t. The latest instance I saw
Of it was when I was riding through the
state Of Sonora. a month or so ago. on an
old gray mule that knew every turn and
twist of the road was taking so thorough
ly that I let the bride reins hang on his
neck and permitted him to go 1t alone
"Along toward evening terrific thun-
derstorm came up. We were right in the
middle Of it, for the altitude was more
than 5000 feet. The electrical storms of
Mexico are terrifying in the extreme. The
bolts are continuous, and you have sort
Of feeling that good conscience Is pretty
good thing to possess amid such an ap-
palling disturbance.
THE air was heavy with the fumes of
sulphur-something I had heard about but
never experienced beforehand the crashes
were deafening. The road was rocky and
bad. and there was only an occasional
scrub pine alongside. The mule. when the
storm reached its height stopped his jog
VI b SuuueH anu StOOO IN the niQQle OF the
road, peacefully enough. He wasn't wor-
ried. apparently, but he thought that that
was pretty good place to stand during the
continuance of the tremendous electrical
storm. for 1t was out In the open. For
myself, 1 wanted to get under the shelter
of pine tree about hundred yards ahead
Of me. But the mule couldn't see it. Him
for the open, and there he stood. I prod
ded him with the spurs. but he merely
looked around at me In disguised. Maud
like way. Then l dismounted and tried to
lead him Nothing doing He wouldn't
bulge. So at length giving 1t to him that
he knew more about 1t than I did.
wrapped my poncho about my head and
stood at his head, waiting for the storm
to pass.
Il hadn't stood by the mule in that way
for more than three minutes before I saw
couple of balls of red fire playing around
the trunk Of the, pine tree that I'd wanted
to get under the shelter of. Then, an in
slant after I'd seen the red balls of fire.
there was a deafening crash. and the pine
tree whose shelter I had desired so badly
was prone on the ground. stretched across
the road and a good part of II in splinters.
II suppose maybe that mule didn't know.
give it to him. anyhow. that he did"