The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-02

cry steak and canned vegetables and
dried apple pie. And who hasn't visit
ed on farms where the best materials
were absolutely ruined by bad cook
| ing? The tropics have no monopoly
| on horrible "eats'' and I think theiv
| foreign nature is, If anything help to
the appetite of the tourist. If the
roast beef isn't good one knows il
! perfectly, but how could a tyro who
had never met it before, pass judg-
ment on the way turkey moli was pre-
pared?
A Mexican dinner begins with soup.
the second course is always eggs and
four or five meat courses follow. One
expects to find vegetables and fruit on
the menus but they are conspicuously
lacking. The people have a theory
that a vegetarian diet is conducive to
the malaria which is one of the
plaques of the land. had never seen
so much meat and never imagined
such difficulty to get vegetables. es-
/ pecially in q country which grows
them the year round. We saw them
in the markets but never met them on
the menus.
We had as matter of course ex-
pected to melt on the Isthmus and if
| any one told you that one could visit
| the tropics in August and not find the
| weather as oppressive as a day in
| Kansas, you would not believe if I'M
| less you knew Kansas. We left To-
peka on frightfully hot day and
were never as warm again until we
/ came back, although we travelled
| across the desert for many miles and
penetrated the tropical jungle It
was very hot in the sun while we
were on the Isthmus, but we could be
cool Immediately by stepping in the
shade. OF course they told us that it
was the hottest day they had all sea-
son. The rainy season was on, when
1T rains every night, and we met our
Old friend General Humidity. The
Isthmus is almost at sea level but the
cool sea breezes from the Gulf and
the Pacific only fifty miles or so away
on either side, blowing across the rain
soaked forests and plantations tenn
per the heat which would otherwise
be extreme.
Pests and "varmints." too. were as
tonishinSly scarce. There were no
window screens at any of the places
we stopped in Mexico but the flies
were few even on the Isthmus in
spite of the soup episode recorded
The beds are all provided with mos
quito bar canopies and there are, of
course, gnats and mosquitoes and
fleas, but they are no more numer-
Gus or more troublesome than our
gnats, mosquitoes, and chiggers What
would Kansas house be like with
out screens?
If we did. not enjoy our stay on
the Isthmus the railway journey was
at least we'll worth while We trav-
elled in a buffet-Pullman coach and
sped along over an excellent track
and roadbed through the wonders of
the great plantations of rice and cot
ton, sugar, bananas, and coffee,
through forests of giant palms, ma
hogany cocoanut and numerous
trees unknown to us even by name. |
We passed chains of lakes where we
saw enormous flocks of heron and
ducks. We saw myriad wild flowers
and fruits new to our eyes and were |
ravished by the wonders and beauties
of totally new nature and the con-
trasts of extreme cultivation on the |
well-managed and profitable pIanta- |
lions, and the virgin forest. It was |
not all forest. We travelled for hours !
over great plains where long-horned |
cattle grazed and came out, now and |
then on little stretches for all the |
world like bits of upland pasture in
Kansas with some sort of gnarled |
dwarfed and stunted trees in clumpsl
that looked, from the car Window
like our scrub oaks and wild crab
apple.
Aside from the bad cooking, which |
fired me with the missionary spirit |
and tempted me to stay and start a |
school of domestic science, nothing |
in the Isthmus impressed me so much |
as a beautiful native girl whom we |
saw in the market place in Santa Luz
crecia. We had gone to the market
in the hope of finding pineapples and |
the girl kept a stall, and as she was |
strikingly handsome it is no wonder
our guide and Interpreter, a young |
American who lives on the ISthmus, |
addressed his conversation to her.
She was a stunning creature, the /
best looking woman of whatever race
we saw in Mexico. Tall. 1.-the, brown
skinned with really. queenly dignity |
of carriage and department and a |
voice of rare righteousness, she made |
me think of Lalun or some other |
heroine of a Kipling tale. She wore
a costume of brown cloth which look
ed not unlike crash, with a straight, |
short and narrow skirt and the low
necked bodice which was made like
the old-fashioned chemises our grand
mothers wore, finished with a band
of good-looking embroidery in rich,
bright colors. Her hair was dressed
becomingly with some striking orna-
ments end her arms were covered
with bracelets and she might,
so far as beauty, aplomb,
and regal dignity. softened by
wnmanly courtesy. were con-
cerned have been some Oriental
princess sitting there among her
beans and tortillas, in the NANCY
market of that miserable Mexican
One reads romances about
beautiful Indian maidens and we had
heard somewhat of the loneliness of
the Mexican natives but she was the
only good looking woman of a dark
race whom I have ever seen.