OCR Text |
Show 40 Ex. Doc. No. 41. antl after waiting some hours, <linn r was announced. ll was a que~;. jumble! of ~t'finem?nt and barbari:m; ~he firsl_p_rcdomina_ling in every thing, <' -cept Hl 1h_c mod e_ of. crvtng-, wluc11 '~as rh1tny 1wr!'ormed by the master, lus l\Icx1 ' <Ul guests, and a Jew female serfs. The pla1rs, forks, and spoons wrrc of. olid New l\Tl'xicnn silYrr, clumsily wo1k d in the country. Tllc middle of the table was strewed with the fine l white bread, cut in pie<.:C's, nnd within the rea ·h of cve;ry cover. At close intervals were glass clecC~nt en; , of Pittsburg manufacturr, ftllcd with win(• m.ade on the plantation. 'l' he dis l1 e s w c r c . c r v e <1 s cpa rate ly . TIt c first w a s soup m a i g r c; then follow cl roas t chirken, ~:.tutfed with onions; then multon , boilc<-l with ouions; tltrn followe<l variou: other tli. hrs, all dressed with the e\erla. ting onion; and tht' whole tcrminale t~ by chi] {·, the glory of New l\1~xico, ancl_ then frigo](·. . . Chile' the J\lextcans constdcr the chef-d'cruvre of the cu1stnr, ancl seem really to revel in it; but the first mouthful brought the tears trickling down my cheek , Y ry much to the amusement of the spectators with their leather-lin ·d throats. It ·was red pepper, stu!I' ~ <l with minced meat. · From J3ernallilo the Yalley opens, but narrows a~ain at ~andia, an Indian town on a santl-bank at the ba~ of a high mountain of the same nnme, sttid to contain the precious metals. They were treading wheat here, which is done by making a circulnr corral on a level ground of clay; upon this floor they sc~lter the ·wheal, turn in a doz n or more mu1r~, Clnd one or two Indmn ·, who, with whoops, yells, nntl blows, kc£'p the affrighted brute· con tantly in motion. To separate the wheat from the haff, both Indians and M xicans usc a simple hand-barrow, with a bottom of raw hull'· hide perforated with holes. I . hould suppose it must take an hour to winnow a bu:hPL After dining sumptuously al Sandival'~, we went to our camp in the Allemada. Here the valley is wide and well cultivated. The people of lh surrounding country flock d in with grnpes, m 'lon , and eggs. warms of wil<l gresc and sand cran s passed over camp. Th(.'Y frequent the river and arc Ullllisturbed, save when some American levels his rifle . .By observation, the latitude of this camp is 35° 11' 50" , and the longitude 106° '45 ' 00" west of Grcenwi ·h. September 6.-W e en ram }H' cl last nigh l on very in cl iffercn t _g r.ass. Breakfastetl with Don Jose Charvi., at Perdilla. \Vhrn stttlng, our chins just r aclH; cl the table. There were five or six courses, entling with coffee .• l3efore breakfast, we were summone<l to ma. , in Don J os6's private cb a pel, where the cccen tric person we met at yesterday's dinner officiated. Priest, fop, courtier, and poet were curiously combined in one person. l)roud of hi p urc while hand, he fiouri hcd it incessanl1y, sometimes runnincr hi fiugers through his hair, in imitation of some pretty coguctt;, a.nd ever and anon glancing in one of the many lookino--glasses with which the church was decorated. After ma s, to ou~ surprise, he delivered an elo- Ex. Doc. No. 41. 41 C'JUent cliscour~r, culogising th granrl cu r, m<tgnanimity, power, anll justice of the nilt'cl Stat<.•s. Att ' nding mass b ·fore IH 'akfa~t proYetl anythi ng lJttt an appetizer. Th e chu rch was nowd('d wi th wom nor all colld itions, and th<' horrid reboso, whid1 lhe poor us' fo r shawls, honnet, handkcrdli ·f, and spit· box, ·ent out an odor whi ch th' incense from the a l LH fa i l e < l to stifle. One fact. truck me as singular in all the hous~"s that we vi~ile<l, tl1 c 1 a d i c s n 'Y e r mad c the i r a p p e a r a n l' f' ; :1.11 d i t was a 1 w <1 y s by t h c merest a c c i 11 c n t 1lwt w c aug h l a g I i 111 p f: e of on c o f the fa mil y. At Isolella, 1 beramc tired of lite . how, and, seeing my S(' rvant t a 1 k i n g at t h d o o r o f on e o f h i s :1 c q 1l<1 i n La IH' <' ~ , t t o o k t h · l i b c r t y of a~ king pernt i~si on to tcd{c a q uit'l sic. ta; but this was out of the question. The good woman ovcrwh 'lmcd me with a th ousan d questions abnnt lite United State~, which cou ld only be ~topped by que. tioning her in r eturn. She d('nouncc<l Armijo; said, with a true Ca ·tilian flash of th yr, "I do not se how any man wearing those things," pointing to my shoulder straps, '' ·ould run away a· he did. He had a gootl army to back him., and could have driven yon all back." The valley suddenly contra ·ts below P rdilla, b tween Isoletta and ,Peralta. On the cast side of the river there is deep and, and th<' country is perfectly barren. I observed to-night, for time and Jntilucle al my ramp, about 500 feet northwe t of enora Charvis's .private chapc'l, thirtcrn altitudes of polaris giv' for the latitude of thi place, :31° 50' 57" ; and twelve of corona borealis, nnd nine of alplw pc ga~ i, give the chronometric longitude 7/t. 07nL 8s.4. ~.,f.,'epternber 7.-The early part of last evening was mo~t b autifully bright and s<·r nc; the air was of the most delightful temp rH t U r C, Val' i e d 0 C ~~ ~ i 0 n a 1J y by a g e 11 t) e b r C C Z C f r 0 m the S 0 U l h , W a fling along the perfume of the vineyards. ] made some observations for tim and latitude; the last unsatisfactorily, owing to the bright- 11 ess of the moon cl im min g the southern star:. About 11 o' c 1 oc·k, the whol<· character of the nigh l was changed by an cn.t wind that enmc rustling down from the mountains, driving the sand before it. Nearly the whole di tancc trcn-elle<l in the last three days ha~ been over driftin rs sand, with Oll]y occa ional patchc of firm soil. After rising early to att<,nd to some business, I walked over the town of Peralta, whi 'h is int r persed with cotton wood, growing in nearly the regular order of an apple orehartl. I then repairell to head- quarters, at the palaee of Mr. II ortera, a spacious one s t o r y c d i fi c c , fi v e ] 1 u n d r c d f e e t fr o n t. \Ve marched and encamped near Tom6. Il wa the eve of the fete of Tome in honor of the Virgin Mary, and peopl from all parts of the country w re flocking in erowd, to the town. The primi ti v' wagon of the country were u cd by the wom n as co ache . Th<'se w<~gon wer heavy boxes mounted on wheels cut from lcuo-e colton wood; over the top of the Lox was spr(•ad a blanket, and inside were hutldled, in a dense crowd, th<' women, ·hildrcn, pig , lambs, and "every thing that is his." The man of the family |