The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1908-03-13
MORE ABOUT MEXICO.
CONTINUED from page l.)

very profitable, as each plant will
yield about $40 worth of this fluid
when it is tapped. At about 8
years old it then dies and is used
for firewood, it's leaves go to make
shingles, etc. $4,000 gallons is said
to be the daily consumption of this
liquor in the city of Mexico alone.
1t is the drink of the peon and poor
Indian.
I AS night comes on we enter this
cosmopolitan city, brilliantly light
ed, with its grand cathedrals, parks
and palaces, with history reaching
back to the misty past, with relics
in its museums unmistakable evil
dences of knowledge of the arts
and sciences, rivaling those of
Greece and Egypt in their palmiest
days.
On Sunday afternoon, we. like
all visitors to Mexico, attended the
bull fight, and saw for the first time
in all it's horror this brutal relic of a
barbarous age-fastened upon all
countries where the blood thirsty
Spaniard has set his foot. When
this wild, unseemly sport was end
ed, eleven horses and six bulls lay
dead outside the ring and one mata-
dor severely wounded; it is a most
horrifying spectacle, one that is cal
culated to put to the severest test
the strongest nerve, and chill the
blood in the boldest heart.
Mexico City has one of the most
complete street car system of any city
on the North American continent.
1t is owned and managed by Cana
dians, with native operators. Ev-
cry car runs to the Zocalo or the
great Plaza, situated in the center OF
the city. This Plaza is surrounded
by the National Palace. the great
Cathedral and all the government
buildings. This cathedral is one of
the grandest architectural structures
in Mexico and perhaps in the
world, requiring more than one
hundred years to complete, at a
cost of many millions of dollars.
The tones of its organs are of in
describable sweetness and the sing
ing Of the choirs is inexpressibly
grand-its affairs are beautiful and
rich beyond estimation-its walls
are hung with the grandest pictures
from the most famous old masters.
TO see Raphael's original painting
OF the Crucifixion is worth q trip to
Mexico. Thousands of dollars have
been refused for this world famed
picture.
The altar where the Emperor
Maximillian and Empress Carlotto
were crowned is chained off, having
never been used since his death.
Nearby are beautiful pictures of the
two, one represents the Emperor
mounted on magnificent white
horse. He was superbly handsome,
and the poems looked upon him al
most as god; he was tall and
beautifully formed, with flowing
yellow hair and long side whiskers
so unlike any of their race. The
cross that he held in his hand
when he was shot is in the altar
still. When the detail of the Mex.
lean soldiers lined up to shoot him
and his two Austrian generals he
called each one up and gave him a
$50 gold piece with the request that
they would shoot at his heart so as
not to injure his handsome face.
He was good spender and great
beautifier, and Mexico City is in.
debted to him and the refined taste
of the lovely but unfortunate Car
lotta for the grandeur of its parks
and public gardens. / say un-
fortunate Carlotta, for she, after a
vain attempt to enlist the. sym
pathies of Napoleon III in the be-
half of her husband, became raw
ing maniac while pleading for his
life before the Pope of Rome, and
today is an old, gray-haired, miser-
able maniac. shut up in castle in
Belgian.
After leaving the Cathedral and
passing through the most beautiful
flower market in the world, we Wis
tied the Thieves Market, which was
indeed a most sudden transition
from the sublime to the ridiculous.
The thieves have square allotted to
Al