A GLIMPSE OF SONORA.
"At what time does the stage start for Magdalena?" I inquired of the
bar-tender at the "Metropolitan Hotel," Tucson, where the Southern
Pacific Railway had just landed me.
"Magdalena?" he drawled. "Well, guess you'll have to wait here till
Saturday now. Stage went out this morning at eight o'clock."
It was nine o'clock on Tuesday. _En route_ from the station I had seen
quite enough of Tucson to put my ill-luck in its strongest light. But
the bar-tender did not seem to realise that there could be any
misfortune in a delay of four days there.
"Take a drink?" said he. "There's worse places than Tucson; there's
places where you can't get a drink."
I took a drink, in which my new acquaintance joined me.
"Is Mr. Maroney in?" I asked. Mr. Maroney was the proprietor of the
hotel, and I had a message of introduction to him.
"Mr. Maroney ain't long gone to bed. The boys was having a little game
of 'freeze out' last night. I guess he'll be around at midday."
A bed-room, or rather a loose-box, was assigned me in the quadrangle at
the back of the saloon, and after breakfasting I strolled out to enlarge
my acquaintance with the town.
Until twelve months previously, Tucson had been an unimportant adobe
village; now it was growing rapidly. Edifices of brick were springing up
in all directions. Practically it is the gateway between Mexico and the
far Western States of America, and as such its future is assured.
Under the shop awnings in the main street loitered a crowd of handsome,
bearded, bronzed miners from the neighbouring mining districts. To and
fro flitted a few busy store-clothed store-keepers and clerks, and here
and there a knot of men might be seen examining some specimen of quartz.
A couple of leather-overalled cowboys, ostentatiously "heeled" or
armed, rode down the street on their Mexican-saddled _bronchos_; a
Chinaman stole swiftly and silently by; a half-breed led a lame horse
along; a couple more "greasers" seated one behind the other went past on
another equine scarecrow; sundry dogs--one dragging a swollen run-over
leg after him--loafed about; and a chain-and-ball gang of convicts
slowly advanced, sweeping the dusty road.
The town was gay with the bunting displayed in the store signs,
advertisements, and invitations to "walk in."
The "Head Quarters" store is "selling out at cost price," boots, shoes,
bacon, lard, flour, stores, hardware, etc., with all intermediate
articles, forming the stock to be sacrificed. A Saddle and Harness
manufactory, outwardly rich in signs and specimens of its work, is
followed by a "Nobby Clothing" store that even surpasses it in its
ticketed display of "pants" and "vests." Inside, a customer, with his
feet on the counter, leans back in his chair and chats to the shopman,
who is perched on his own cask. "Ladies' Dress Goods," "Fancy Goods,"
"Gents' Furnishing Goods," "Stores and Tinware," "The Alhambra Billiard
Saloon," "The Tucson Restaurant," "Markets," "Estate Offices," diagrams
of gouty-looking boots, swollen loaves, gigantic pipes, guns, bottles,
etc., etc., without end, in black upon a white linen ground, invite
attention everywhere.
In a town of this kind, next to the drinking saloons, the barber's shop
is the chief place of resort. The barber, in importance, ranks second
only to the artistic mixer of cool drinks. He is hail-fellow-well-met
with every one. Especially cheery and amusingly ceremonious is Figaro if
he happen to be a coloured man. His memory is prodigious. Men enter that
he has not seen for months, and with whom he is perhaps only slightly
acquainted; yet he resumes the conversation precisely where it
terminated when they parted. He reminds his visitor of what he has said,
and of what his projects were when he last was shaved there, and he
persistently inquires how far those assertions have been verified, and
those intentions fulfilled. Having posted himself up to the latest date
in all that concerns the victim of his curiosity, he proceeds, in
return, to furnish him with biographical sketches of such later passages
in the lives of his friends as may have escaped his knowledge.
In the barber's shop that I entered the three chairs were all occupied.
A slender, graceful, "interesting young man," of an Italian type of
face, dressed in a blue shell-jacket bound with yellow, a good deal of
loud jewellery, and a "dandy-rig" generally, operated on one customer; a
"wooden-mugged down-Easter," with bushy eyebrows, and quick, twinkling
eyes, who sang over and over again, absently, though still with
heart-wrung pathos, "Oh, my little darling, I love you! Oh, my little
darling, yes, I do!" had the second in charge; the third was at the
mercy of a black man, who was cross-questioning him very closely as to a
recent trip to Tombstone.
I fell to the hands of the dude, and was sheeted and soaped by him with
a theatrical flourish that led me to anticipate the rest of the
performance with interest. Three various strops were necessary to put an
edge on the razor that was to execute me. The first, a rough one,
scraped like a file; the second made the razor ring like a bell beneath
the reckless strokes of its dashing manipulator; over the third it slid
like soap. I was prepared for some fancy shaving, and was not
disappointed. After a few false starts the young man, at one fell swoop,
slid the razor through the stubble on my face from one end of the cheek
to the other. For a little while he sliced about in a fashion that
irresistibly reminded one of cutlass drill, and then settled down to
more delicate work. Certainly he had a sure and dainty touch, but to be
shaved by him often would take years off a nervous man's life. Even when
the rougher work was finished he was sufficiently alarming. Running his
fingers over my chin he would discover a hair that had escaped him, and,
as if he were flicking a fly off a wall with a whip-lash, sweep down
upon it and smooth it off at one fell stroke. As for the coloured
gentleman, he arrayed himself in magnificent clothing and went out; the
"down-Easter," having finished his task, took up a guitar and croaked a
few amorous ballads in a decayed voice.
Returning to the hotel, I found that Mr. Paul Maroney had arisen. I also
found a card of invitation from (I think it was) the "Union Club"
awaiting me. Being dubious with regard to the nature of a club in
Tucson, I interrogated Maroney on the subject.
"Do you want to play monte?" he asked, weighing the card between his
finger and thumb.
"No."
"Well...."
That "well" drawled out and sustained, with the look that accompanied
it, told me quite as much about the Club as I desired to know. Paul and
I christened our acquaintance with cocktails.
Conversation at any time, on any topic, or with any person in Tucson (as
elsewhere on the frontier), invariably led to this ceremony. Cocktail
drinking has a charm of its own, which lifts it above drinking as
otherwise practised. Your confirmed cock-tail drinker is not to be
confounded with the common sot. He is an artist. With what exquisite
feeling will he graduate his cup, from the gentle "smile" of early
morning, to the potent "smash" of night! The analytical skill of a
chemist marks his unerring detection of the very faintest dissonance in
the harmony of the ingredients that compose his beverage. He has an
antidote to correct, a tonic to induce every mood and humour that man
knows. Endless variety rewards a single-hearted devotion to cocktails,
whilst the refinement and ingenuity that may be exercised in the
display of such an attachment, redeem it from intemperance. It becomes
an art; I am not sure that it ought not to be termed a science. It is
drinking etherealised, rescued from vulgar appetite and brutality,
purified of its low origin and ennobled. A cocktail hath the soul of
wit, it is brief--it is a jest, a bon-mot, happy thought, a gibe, a word
of sympathy, a tear, an inspiration, a short prayer. A list of your
experienced cocktail drinker's potations for the day constitutes a
complete picture of life, and the secret joys and sorrows that he hides
from all the world may almost be said therein to stand betrayed to the
eye of a brother scientist.
The four days' waiting passed at length, and seated in the corpulent old
coach, with its team of four wheelers and four leaders, we rumbled
slowly out of Tucson.
The passengers were a Mexican dame with a baby, a Mexican, an American
miner, and myself. A sort of second whip sat beside the driver, armed
with a short but heavy weapon, with which he made excursions from the
box-seat to the ground, and whilst the coach was still in motion fought
it out with any refractory member of the team, as he ran beside him.
Collecting a pocketful of the wickedest stones that he could find, he
would then return, and pelt the _bronchos_ from his former elevation.
Another of his duties was to disentangle the team, when, as not
unfrequently occurred, so many of the leaders faced the wheelers that
further progress was impossible. It also fell to his lot to tie the
coach together with thongs and string when its dissolution appeared
imminent. In the performance of his various duties this individual
displayed considerable agility, ability, and resource.
The Mexican woman was frightful, the infant very like her, only by no
means so quiet. Mother and child left us at the end of the first stage.
The Mexican slept all day; towards evening he awoke and reduced himself
to a state of complete intoxication with _mascal_. The miner never
opened his lips until the following morning just before entering
Magdalena, when we happened to see a jackass rabbit.
"Next jackass rabbit we see, I'll be durned if I don't shoot him," he
said.
He forthwith produced and cocked a long Colt's revolver. But, as we saw
no more rabbits, I missed this exhibition of his skill.
From the pace at which we proceeded during the night, I presumed that
the Mexican's bottle of _mascal_ was not the only one we had on board.
The jolting was terrific. Besides encountering the ordinary ruts and
irregularities in the ground, we struck every now and then, when going
at full gallop, against a loose boulder, or the projecting corner of a
rock, the shock of which brought our heads in stunning contact with the
brass-capped nails that studded the roof of the coach. I was sometimes
in doubt a moment whether my neck were broken or not. When Magdalena was
reached my scalp was raw, and every angle of my body bruised.
Stage travelling in Mexico, if this were a fair sample of it, is neither
luxurious nor speedy. Owing to the irregularity with which the service
is conducted, it is impossible for relays to be in attendance. Not until
the coach arrives is a _peon_ sent out to drive in fresh horses from the
country. As they roam free over the broad _vegas_, they may be miles
from home; consequently it is no unusual thing for the best part of a
day to be wasted before they are found. Outward bound, we were
singularly fortunate in this respect. On the return journey, our delays
were all prolonged, in some cases exceeding even five or six hours. The
wattled sheds and huts at which these intervals were passed were of the
filthiest description.
Some of our teams were curiously mixed. One consisted of three donkeys,
two mules, and three _bronchos_. Most of them were partly composed of
mules. Some were poor, others were remarkably good. Particularly
noteworthy was the performance of a level team of sturdy _bronchos_,
that we picked up late in the afternoon, and that of a fine team of
mules that took us into Magdalena on the following morning. The stages
were about sixteen and eighteen miles respectively, but with the
exception of a few short stoppages, caused by trouble with the harness,
were covered at full gallop; notwithstanding which, the teams pulled up
almost as fresh as they had started.
In one instance a deficiency of stock necessitated the lassoing and
breaking in of a horse that had never been used before. He fought
gallantly for nearly half-an-hour, and several times was thrown
half-strangled on the ground, when the lasso was loosened and he was
given a few minutes to recover. Eventually he allowed himself to be
harnessed, and once in the team had to go with the rest. I must do our
driver the justice to say that he handled the ribbons with admirable
skill and boldness.
To add to the interest of the trip, it was expected that we should be
stopped by cow-boys. These gentlemen had lately "gone through" the
coaches with great regularity, and, in anticipation of trouble, our whip
and second whip were armed to the teeth. Fortunately, the journey was
without incident of this kind.
With demoniacal yells, and a furious cracking of both whips, we dashed
into Magdalena, and pulled up in the _plaza_. It was Sunday. The good
people were just issuing from church. Mexican maidens, in white or
brilliant robes, trooped out in twos and threes, and hand in hand went
laughingly homewards. And here I feel the scribbling traveller's
temptation to romance. A fanciful picture of some dark-eyed beauty, with
proud Castilian features, and bewitching dignity and grace of manner,
would fit my tale so well. Besides, in a Mexican sketch, one expects a
pretty woman, even as one looks for lions in African, and elephants in
Indian scenery. But I was so disgusted in this respect myself, that it
will be of some satisfaction to me to have you disappointed also.
Expect, therefore, no glowing description of female loveliness from me.
Good-looking women doubtless exist in Mexico; but, in the few miles that
I went over the border on this occasion, I saw none. A hazy recollection
of flowers in connection with this scene of church-going damsels haunts
me, but whether they were worn in the hair, or in the dress, or simply
carried, I no longer remember. Men in their coloured _zarapas_, and
broad-brimmed hats, chatted and smoked the eternal cigarette. Old women
in black robes loitered in knots (very like old wives elsewhere) and
gossiped. The _commandante_ and a few officials sat on one of the old,
carved stone seats. A few miners loafed before the "American Hotel,"
kept by a plump, jovial, masterful American woman, and her subdued
matter-of-fact English husband, by name Bennett. Here I breakfasted, and
in the afternoon rode out, twenty-three miles, to the mine of a friend
of mine, whom I had come down to visit.
Past the Sierra Ventana (so called on account of the hole that
completely perforates one shoulder of it), and over wave after wave of
rolling country, sparsely covered with _mesketis_-bush, my guide and I
rode on towards some hills in the distance; and dusk had fallen and
night had come when we ascended the spur on which the mine was situated.
The stalwart form of my friend (whom I will call by his local sobriquet,
Don Cabeza) appeared at his cottage door as I drew up, and, not
expecting me, in the dark he took me to be a new hand in quest of work.
"Buenas nochas, senor, said I.
"Buenas nochas."
"Habla V. Castellano?"
"No hablo so much as all that comes to."
Then I burst out laughing.
"Why----! If it isn't Francis!"
What a warm-hearted greeting he gave me! How hospitably he spread the
best of everything before me, and even would he have relinquished his
own bed to me had I allowed it. I had a big budget of news from San
Francisco about mutual friends, but much as he wished to hear it, he
insisted on its narration being deferred until I had slept and rested.
It was odd. When I had last seen and known Don Cabeza, it had been in an
atmosphere of clubs and drawing-rooms, where his wit, good-nature,
geniality, and a certain old-fashioned thoughtfulness and courtesy of
manner had made him one of the most popular men in a pleasant circle.
Here, with that adaptability to circumstance which is so marked a
characteristic of Americans (_when_ they choose to exert the faculty),
he had shed the drawing-room air, and appeared, for the time being, as a
bluff, light-hearted, practical miner. The white linen, patent leather,
and general fastidiousness of speech and taste, formerly so marked, were
temporarily laid aside for the flannel shirts, top boots, Western slang,
and sublime indifference to fare and comfort peculiar to the dweller in
a mining camp. And yet he had not changed either. There is a tinge of
old world chivalry in the character of those who came in early days to
California. They are lost in a crowd of a different type and of later
date now; wherever you do find one though, you find a large-hearted,
generous man, with nothing small or mean in his whole composition. In
the better type of old Californian, there is less of the snob than in
any man in the world; and in supporting what he thinks is manly and
unselfish, he is as fearless of what others may think, as of what they
may do. Animated by the love of adventure, the Don had left a luxurious
home in the East to come in early times to California, and had there
"toughed through" all those scenes and times that now read like pages
from a fascinating romance. And a fine type of "old Californian" he was.
The Santa Ana was a new purchase that he had come down there to
prospect. It promised well, but was not as yet worked on a large scale.
Those were pleasant days up at the mine. Lazy? Well, yes; I fancy
everything in Mexico is more or less lazy. We were so entirely out of
the world; the trip, moreover, was so utterly disconnected with anything
that came before or followed it, that it stands out now in solitary
relief.
An _adobe_ cottage, of three rooms, had been built for the Don and his
foreman, and here we lived. Below us, in wattled huts, dwelt the Yaqui
miners and their families. A little removed from the adobe was an open
arbour, with wattled roof, in which we took our meals. Near it was a
stunted tree, that served for various purposes, besides being shady and
ornamental. Lodged in the first fork was our water-barrel. The
coffee-grinder was nailed to its trunk. In a certain crevice the soap
was always to be found. Upon one bough hung the towels, the
looking-glass depended from another. One branch supported the long steel
drill, that, used as a gong, measured with beautifully musical tones the
various watches of the miners. Amidst the exposed roots the axe in its
leisure moments reposed. Our tree, in short, was a kind of dumb waiter,
without which we should have been lost.
The country teemed with quail and jackass rabbits. We bought an old
Westley Richards shot-gun in Magdalena, and did great slaughter amongst
them. Deer were reported to be numerous, but during my stay we saw none.
A good deal of our time was spent in cooking. The "China-boy," nominally
_chef_, was so wondrously dirty, that one day we rose against him, and
degraded him to the post of scullion, and being, both of us, proud of
our culinary skill, we undertook the preparation of our meals ourselves.
Jerked beef, bacon, quails, jackass rabbit, beans, rice, chilies, and
potatoes were the articles that we had to work upon.
Don Cabeza mixed the introductory cocktail, and took sole charge of the
jerked beef and beans; the quails and jackass rabbit fell to my care,
the remaining items were mutual property, with the exception of the
rice, which the Celestial was still permitted to boil. Most elaborate
(at least in titles) were the _menus_ we produced. One Mexican dish that
the Don used to prepare of jerked beef, pounded and fried to a crisp in
butter, with a few chopped chilies, was worthy of note. Jerked beef and
jackass rabbit! We laughed as we compared these frugal meals with the
extravagant dinners and breakfasts of the year before, at the
"California," "Marchands," and the "Poodle Dog," in San Francisco. And,
by-the-way, if you are known at either of the above restaurants, you can
be served there in a style that neither "Voisin's" nor "Bignon's" could
easily excel.
Every now and then, some Yaqui men or women would come up from their
little colony below to purchase something from the store room, which,
owing to the distance that we were from town, it was necessary to keep
for their convenience; and great was their mirth to see Don Cabeza and
me cooking. They said we were "loco," or mad. Good-tempered creatures
they were, and certainly easily pleased, for they regarded it as a
signal compliment if I sketched either of them.
I never could understand why time sped so rapidly here. There was
really no occupation for us. Yet morning had scarcely broken fairly, it
seemed, before evening approached, and what evenings they were!
In the rear of the cottage, the spur on which we lived led up to rocky
canons and gaunt ridges before it, vast _vegas_ stretched like a sea
away to a far-off horizon of mountains, that, in the distance, looked as
soft as low-down clouds. Behind these purple veins betwixt sky and
landscape, the sun--a molten mass of palpitating fire, was lost at
night. And as it passed away, swift shadows fell and dimmed the scenery,
knitting its distances together with imperceptible process, and
shrouding the intervals in mystery and obscurity. Soon only the
deceptively near sky-line was clearly visible, and above it the glow of
orange deepening into red still suffused the heavens with subdued
illumination. Thus, on the one hand might be seen, high set in
fathomless blue, amidst glittering hosts of stars, or far or near,
twinkling or fixed, blue, and white, and red, and yellow, the silver
beauty of a crescent moon; on the other, the lingering glory of the
vanished sun. The effect was curious.
The foreman went early to bed, and was early abroad. Not so Don Cabeza
and I. When the mocking-bird in the _mesketis_-bush had ceased its
plaintive song, and save for the sound--like dropping water--of
crickets, silence fell upon the land, we would light our largest pipes,
endue us in our easiest garments, and sit (he on a carpenter's bench, I
in a barrow) smoking and yarning, yarning and smoking, without thought
of time, through the still watches of those enchanting southern nights.
Many a swift and pleasant hour did we spend thus! But then Cabeza
possessed a fund of crisp wit, and an inexhaustible store of anecdotes,
experiences, quaint theories, and views.
Occasionally we went into Magdalena for stores and letters. Magdalena
can boast a past of some prosperity; a more important future lies before
it. At present it bears a stamp of dilapidation, poverty, and squalor.
Probably not a dozen of its inhabitants are unencumbered with debt;
nevertheless, everybody, even to the beggar in the street, possesses
from two or three to ten or a dozen mines. It sounds absurd to hear a
fellow in rags discoursing glibly about "his mines." Still more
ridiculous does it seem when you know that many of them are of great
value. The iron safe, however, is only to be opened by a golden key, and
a coined dollar in Magdalena is worth a fortune underground. Little
doubt exists that, when the railways, now (1882) entering from the
States, are completed, and capital and energy pour into the country,
enormous wealth will be found hidden in its quartz. The hills around
Magdalena give evidence of gold, silver, and galena ore in every
direction. Nor is gold wanting in the river beds and valleys. All that
is required is a little capital and systematic industry.
The area of country suitable for cultivation is circumscribed by reason
of the scarcity of water, but where this is obtained and utilised, its
effect is magical, and the fertility of the land becomes almost
incredible. Not a tithe of that which is eligible is cultivated, for the
indolence of the natives is remarkable. Even such ordinary vegetables as
potatoes and onions are extremely difficult to obtain. A _zarapa_, a
handful of beans, and a little tobacco, suffice for all the Mexican's
requirements. If his vocabulary were limited to "Porque?" and "Poco
tiempo," it would not greatly inconvenience him.
Northern Sonora derives its chief support from cattle. In most
instances the ranches are of large extent, but poorly stocked. Formerly,
they were in better condition, but they suffered severely from Apache
raids, from which they are said never to have entirely recovered. The
Indians drove off or killed all but the poorest animals, and the ranches
have been restocked by the slow process of breeding from those that they
left. Latterly a few bulls and stallions of a better class have been
imported from the States.
One day the Don and I came into Magdalena with the avowed intention of
hiring a cook. The foreman had been despatched once or twice,
unsuccessfully, on the same errand; but Cabeza was undiscouraged, and
said that "He guessed, if we went ourselves, and they saw how real nice
we were, they would all want to come." Accordingly we enlisted all the
store-keepers in the place in a search for "a real way-up cook, who
could make chile-con-carne, tamales, and all the best Mexican dishes,
besides understanding American cookery." "And say," Cabeza would
conclude, in giving his directions, "she's got to be a beautiful woman,
too, because we're good-looking ourselves, and we don't like to see
homely women about the place."
Having posted our requirements in the various stores, we went off to the
American hotel, where, by dint of making desperate love to the plump
hostess, we succeeded in obtaining a sack of potatoes and half a sack of
onions--part of a consignment that she had lately received from
Hermosillo. She had just been engaged in a battle royal with the waiter,
whom she had demolished with the kitchen coal-shovel. She was inclined,
therefore, to be very affable, and even volunteered, for a
consideration, to come out to the mine and cook for us herself.
"You want a boss cook and a beauty, Don Cabeza, eh? Well, I guess, I'm
both. What'll you give me to come out to the mine and cook?"
"Mrs. Bennett," we said, "if we got you out there we should lose the
only pleasure we have to look forward to--the only ray of golden
sunlight that illuminates our desolate path in life. We should no longer
have the treat of coming in here to see you. We mustn't kill the goose
that----I mean, we mustn't be greedy, of course."
The subdued condition of Bennett, and the bandaged head of the waiter,
were not happy auguries for the peace of any household that Madame
Bennett took charge of. And we probably should not have borne our chains
as philosophically as did her husband. Bennett's dry, matter-of-fact
spirit was aptly illustrated in a story that I heard here. A miner named
Hess was recounting the following incident in his career as a soldier
during the North and South war to him.
It appeared that at Bull's Run Hess had a difference with the colonel of
his regiment, and, refusing to fight, went off and sat on a rail by
himself. A corporal's guard was sent to bring him into action, but Hess
said that he "scared the filling out of _them_ durned quick." A sergeant
and a file of men then came, but he "got away with them, too." A
lieutenant and half a company was despatched in search of him, but he
"cleaned them out." A captain and a full company appeared, but this
brave man "made them get." Finally half the regiment came down, and the
invincible Hess did not hesitate to say that, he "stood them off." Old
Bennett heard him to the end without a smile. Then he said: "Hess, I
never hurt you any, did I?" "No." "Will you do me a favour, then?" "Why,
cer'nly, if I can." "Well, I've got a bet of ten dollars, with Mike
Sheppard, that Doc Brown is the biggest liar in Sonora, and if ever you
tell that tale in public I shall lose the money, sure." And Hess said
that he would not tell it again.
In the principal square of Magdalena stood the old church, near which
were the ruins of a still more ancient edifice. To the latter, called
the church of San Francisco, a legend was attached. I give it as it was
given to me by a miner.
"Yer see, this here San warn't always a saint, San warn't. They do say
as he was 'customed to go on a scoop--on a bend, occasionally, as it
were. However, he took a pull in time, and caught on to this preaching
racket, and finally he came to be a bishop. Right here was all in his
claim. Wal, happened once when he was prospecting around jest to see
that the sky pilots under him was keeping at it, that the outfit banked
up here for the night. Next morning, when they was all hitched up and
ready for a start, and come to hoist old San on his meule, they couldn't
prize him up anyhow. They put on fresh hands and tried all they durned
knew. But San, he'd kinder taken root, and thar he sot, like the sawed
off stump of a Sierra pine, and jest about as nimble too. 'Boys,' says
he, at last, 'let up hauling! ye can quit that soon as ye please'
(Independent as a clam at high tide the old cuss was even then). 'Guess
I'll stay right here,' says he. 'Waltz in and put up a church right
away.' And that's how this church and town come to be built--least, so
folks say hereabouts." Then he added reflectively after a pause: "But
they do lie here, too."
After the dusty and dirty town we returned to the prettily situated
adobe cottage at the mine with renewed pleasure.
At length the time came for me to depart. The horses were driven in from
the vega; the near fore-wheel of the cart (which, when not in use, was
invalided, and kept in water to prevent the wood shrinking from the
tire) was fixed on, the old waggon lined with hay and blankets, and, one
night after dinner, we started to drive into Magdalena for the last
time.
The day had been oppressive, but now there was a refreshing coolness in
the air. At every pace, as we jogged along, hares lolloped across the
road, or played amidst the scattered _mesketis_-bush on either side of
it. Occasionally the howl of a distant coyote might be heard.
Night-hawks and owls flitted silently to and fro, and "shard-borne
beetles" hummed drowsily as they wheeled in the dreamy welkin. The
stars, the stillness, and the silken winds combined to work a charm.
Night wore her richest jewellery, sang low her softest melody, whispered
her sweetest poem, and showed her beauty all unveiled even by the
lightest fleece of cloud. Until I saw these Mexican skies I never knew
how much more beautiful night was than day. For every star dimly
distinguishable in Europe a thousand are clearly visible there. Their
number and refulgence are astonishing. Were I to live in Mexico I should
be strongly tempted to rise at sundown and go to bed at dawn.
Once more the corpulent coach looms in view. Once more am I
uncomfortably ensconced therein. With a torrent of Spanish invective,
and a terrific cracking of whips, we slowly start. The coach turns round
a corner, and I catch a last glimpse of Don Cabeza, with his hat off, in
the road, waving a kindly adieu to me.