The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-07-01
The Mexican Indian

OV the AZl6CS, anu VAClI -"
growing in independence right along.
There are a great many Of them IN
Oaxaca, a state whose population IS
fully nine-tenths Indian. Some are 70
be found on the Isthmus or
|tepec, where the women are noted TOT
their picturesuuenes and for their ID
dependent ways.
The Girls Of Tehuantepec.
Indeed. the girls Of Tehuantepec are
among the beauties OF n Norm
American continent. They are as
their forms are beautifully rounded.
They have olive skins, black hair and
eyes and teeth as white as lime
freshly slaked. Their ordinary cos
tune is a jacket and skirt, the for
mer having short sleeves n cut
very low at the neck, SO that it ex-
| poses their beautiful shoulders and
arms. The jacket reaches almost to
the waist and a strip Of bare skin
usually shows between it and the
skirt.
Of the Burmans. 1t consists Of a strip
Of red cloth several yards long. This
is wrapped tightly around the hips
and tucked in at the waist. In addition
to this every woman has a hulpn for
| Sundays and feast days. The hulpil
is a lace decoration Of enormous size,
which is worn as a sort of headdreSS.
It incloses the face or it may extend
around the neck or hang down from
the head at the back like the war
plumes of a Comanche chief. On
dress occasions the girls wear also
full skirts, which are often heavily
embroidered with lace.
These women do much of the work.
They are thrifty m accumu1atiVe.
They are fond Of gold jCwelry and
like especially ornaments made Of
American twenty-donar gold pieces.
Girls may De frequently seen thus
wearing a mall fortune in gold double
eagles, although their feet may be
bare.
The Ruins of Militia.
The most famous ruins Of this tribe
lie within twenty-five miles to the
southeast of Oaxaca City. They are
about three hundred miles south OF
the Mexican capital and one can e
there by train in less than a day
There are fairly good hotels at OAK
AGA, n from there one can reach
the ruins by carriage in five or si1
hours. Or he can go by train to Sal
, Pablo in an hour and a half and stol
at the hotel there. ain the latter cas-
4 he will be right at the ruins and cal
e easily spend q day or SO in movinl
? about through them.
s The ruins are those Of the ancien
S city Of Militia. They are Of great ex
: tent, and the Indians say that unde
: them lie the chambers wherein ar
e stored the treasures Of the ancien
are striking. The Hail of the Mono
liths, for instance, has walls FIVE fee
e thick and columns Of enormous siz<
n The lintels over the entrances ar
solid blocks of stone eighteen fee
long, four feet high and five fee
thick, and the pillars are porphyr.
e rising fourteen feet from the floor an
extending, it is said, six feet below i
= They are as big around as a whiske
l. barrel
Next this is the Salon Of the Mono
II liths, which is 100 feet long and {
rs feet wide. Its walls are 10 feet
+ height, and it has a floor Of cemen
The decorations Of Militia make ye
n think Of Pompeii. Some of the foo
re are in mosales, and many OF the stru
re lures are wonderfully carved remin,
ie ing n Of the crumbling temples ar
n fort at Delhi in India.
Strange Indians of Northern Mexic
Is Some Of the most interesting of Il
Mexican tribes live in the nOrthe,
Of part OF the ountr Chihuahua he
IS, for instance, the Casas Grandes, viii,
n0 lie near Inc railroad on the way ITO
cir Juarez to Terrazas. These Casas CO
II. respond somewhat to the homes
.cs our cave jewellers. save that they we
built on the level and were Of Va
&c, extent. They were. in short, the fiji
he apartment houses on record. T
use chief building is 500 feet long frC
Gy north to south, and 200 feet wide fro
in west to east. covering an area of
he most five acres. 1t seems to h
consisted Of three separate piles. unit
ng. to lower buildings. The apartine-
lit varied in size, and the walls in plat
to were forty or fifty feet high, indie:
ies ing that the building had six or sew
stories. These buildings were in ru
cx- at the time Of the Spanish con4ue
get and very little is known Of the ~
hts pie who built them, although SO
ely suppose them to date Jack to
1t MoQuis.
Of Some Cave Dwellers of Mexico.
In Chihuahua we have the Taral
mares Indians. some of whom S
live in caves. and who are sometin