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with unerring certainty, whenever by
biting or crawling F he designated’suffi
ciently his exact locality. By this prim
itive method, I kept myself pretty well
rid of all the full-grown chaps, but the
“small fry” dodged the question en
tirely, and unfortunately it is the nature
of the “brute” to commence the pro
pagation of his species the moment he
is hatched. Often when a fellow, by
hard raking and combing, (if lucky
enough to be the possessor of a fine
tooth comb,) has come to the conclu
sion that at last he has entirely freed
his head from these disgusting occu
pants, he wakes up the next morning to
find it as densely populated as ever. I
speak advisedly on this subject, for I
had many opportunities, whilst impris
oned in Mexico, of studying the “ hab
its and customs” of all kinds of “ver
min.”
The evil was aggravated by our want
of a change of clothing and the scanty
supply of water furnished us for our
ablutions. As for myself, I had worn
from necessity the same suit of clothes
I had on when we made our escape
from the guard, and after traveling in
them all this time over dusty roads, and
sleeping in them at night upon the
ground, it can easily be imagined that
my costume was not exactly a suitable
one for a ball room or a fashionable as
sembly. But little was left of my shirt.
My hat had long since gone by the board,
and in place of it my head was partially
protected from the sun by a red cotton
handkerchief, wrapped around it some
what in the fashion of a Turkish turban.
I had but one shoe left, which was in a
very dilapidated condition, and in lieu
of the other a rawhide sandal was strap
ped on my foot with leathern thongs.
My coat was tattered and torn by thorns,
and like Joseph’s, from frequent mend
ing with all sorts of materials, was of
many colors, but the dirt or drab color
predominated over all. It is impossi
ble to describe the remnant of my pan
taloons. They hung upon me in shreds
that were inextricably bound together
by thongs and strings, and upheld by a
system of “tackling” as complicated
as that of a seventy-four gun-ship, to
compare small things with great; and
from out of these habiliments a coun
tenance presented itself that had been
guiltless of a thorough cleansing so
am ashamed to say how long. “ Such
a beauty I did grow V ’ If my old sweet
heart, Jenny Foster, could have seen
me then I am sure her heart would have
relented, and that she would have re
versed that cruel decision that sent me
“packing off” to Texas some years
before.
Everything that grows in Mexico, or
at least in that portion of it in which I
had traveled, has thorns upon it, which
will account satisfactorily for the dilapi
dation of my clothing in such a short
space of time. Even the very grass has
thorns or spurs upon it, as we frequent-
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
ly found to our cost, whenever, forget
ful of the fact, we seated ourselves upon
ii for a moment’s rest or repose. I re
member once seeing a shrub in Mexico
which at a little [distance appeared to
be covered with dense green foliage,
but upon a nearer approach I discover
ed that it was leafless, and simply a
mass of thorns, thorns growing out 'of
thorns.
The prickly pear, or cactus, the va
rieties of which comprise three-fifths of
the vegetable kingdom in that part of
Mexico, are all armed with spears, pikes
and thorns, of all' lengths and sizes,
from the minute prickle, so small that
it is impossible to ascertain its locality
when fixed in the flesh, except by the
irritation it causes, to pikes and spears
long enough for a buffalo to impale him
self upon.
Everything in this wretched country
seems to be constituted for a state of
continual warfare, as if nature herself
sympathised in some way with the nor
mal political condition of its inhabitants.
The cattle have the longest horns; the
snakes all have fangs; every insect you
touch stings or bites you, or both at the
same time ; and, as I have said before,
the trees, shrubs and grasses are all
thorny—even the frogs and toads, so
soft, moist and flabby in other coun
tries, are here protected by hard, dry
scaly hides, and horns upon the head.
There was one species of shrub, with
long crooked, cat-like talons, which was
dubbed by our men the “ tiger thorn,”
from the fact that its slender elastic
branches were frequently held in a con
strained position by the twigs and foli
age of other shrubs, and when loosened
by the passer-by, they would spring up
voluntarily, as it seemed, and seize him
with their crooked claws, very much as
the tiger springs from the jungle and
seizes upon its prey. I have left many
a rag fluttering in the breeze upon the
branches of this terrible “tiger thorn,”
proud trophies of the numerous con
tests we had had, and showing that I
had always retreated from the field with
the loss of part of my baggage and
equipments.
We remained at Saltillo several weeks,
awaiting, it was said, orders from Santa
Anna, the President of Mexico, as to
our further disposition.* During this
time many and conflict ing rumors reach
ed our ears as to what was to be our
ultimate fate. For some days it was
generally believed that we were to be
sent on to the city of Mexico, where we
were to be immediately released or pa
roled and shipped back home by the
* In the fall of 1868, I sent an account of
the “drawing of the beans,” as a sample of
Wallace’s hook, to some friends in Austin.
This account was not intended for publica
tion, having been hastily and carelessly writ
ten. It was published, however, in two or
three papers, and several erroneous state
ments contained in it- after a careful revis
ion of the notes furnished me by Wallace,
are herein cosrected.
way of New Orleans. Then again it
was reported among us, that a dispatch
had been received from Santa Anna or
dering the immediate execution of every
one of us, but that General Mexier had
refused to carryout the barbarous man
date.
I am inclined to think there must
have been some truth in this report, as
General Mexier, before we left Saltillo,
resigned his joint commission of Com
mandante and Governor of the State.
Besides, I learned afterwards, when a
prisoner in the city of Mexico, that all
the foreign ministers resident there, as
soon as they heard of this order, remon
strated against it as barbarous and in
human, and Santa Anna revoked the
order, substituting in its place the one
requiring the “ decimation” or execu
tion of every tenth man. We had no
intimation, however, that any of these
orders had been actually passed until
both of the latter were read to us sub
sequently at Rancho Salado, where the
“ decimation ” took place.
Where Flowers Came From.
Some of our flowers came from lands
of perpetual summer, some from coun
tries all ice and snow, some from islands
in the ocean. Three of our sweetest
exotics came originally from Peru ; the
camelia was carried to England in
1739; and a few years afterwards the
heliotrope and mignionette. Several
others from the Cape of Good Hope ;
a very large Calla was found in ditches
there, and some of the most brilliant ge
raniums, or Pelargonums, which are a
spurious geranium. The verbena grows
wild in Brazil; the marigold is an Afri
can flower, and a great number are from
China and Japan. The little Daphne
was carried to England by Captain Ross,
from almost the farthest land he visited
towards the North Pole. Some of these
are quite changed in form by cultiva
tion ; others have only become larger
and brighter; while others, despite of
all the care of florists and the shelter of
hot houses, fall far short of the beauty
and fragrance of the tropics.
Among improved ones is the dahlia.
When brought to Europe it was a very
simple blossom, a single circle of dark
petals surrounding a mass of yellow
ones. Others, with scarlet and orange
petals, were soon after transplanted
from Mexico, but still remained simple
flowers. Long years of cultivation in
rich soil, with other arts of skilful flo
rists, have changed it to what it now is
—a round ball o£ beauty.
Riverside Magazine.
—
A Verb,
“ What part of speech is man ?” said
a pedagogue to a sailor boy pupil.
“A verb, sir,” replied the latter.
“ A verb, is it ?” said the teacher, with
a significant twist of his lips ; “ please
give an example.”
“Man the yards !” was the little tar
paulin’s instant response.
EATING INSECTS.
»RBERT was learning the
verses of his Sunday school
lesson one Monday evening.
He did not put it off, as some
children I have known, until Saturday
night or Sabbath morning.
“ I don’t see how John the Baptist
could bear to eat locusts,” he said,
looking up at his mother, with a shade
of repugnance on his face. “I should
think the wild honey would have been
nice.”
“ Such things are matters of habit
chiefly,” said mother. “ The locust is
much more dainty in the food he chooses
than the greedy clucks, yet you have no
scruple about eating them. The locust
is much used for food in those oriental
countries. Some writer suggests that
the idea of eating them must first have
occurred to them because the locusts
had left them nothing else to eat. They
certainly do strip the land of every green
thing when they come on in swarms,
and if they were not eaten in turn the
poor people must starve. They are
caught in great quantities, and either
roasted alive in a brazen pan, or cured
in some way with salt. Some large
ones aie dried and smoked and put
away in bags. The people take them
out by handfuls, and eat them as you
would parched corn.
“ A great many other insects are eaten
in various countries. A grnb, which
burrows in the palm tree, is often fried
in oil and thought a great luxury.
The great white ants of South America
are mixed with paste, and made into
cakes, on which the people feed with
great enjoymeut. Snails, you know,
are bought up in great quantities in
Paris, and sold every morning in the
markets, as we sell oysters.”
“ They may be very nice,” said Her
bert, with a look of disgust, “but I don’t
want any.”
“ Neither do I,” said mother, smiling,
“though I presume our prejudices are
the principal thing in the way of our
enjoying them. We ought to be very
thankful for the abundant supply of
good, wholesome food our Heavenly
Father has given us, so that we never
have to resort to these sources to keep
us from starvation.”
"What Harm ?
“ What harm is there,” said a young
man, “in playing a game of cards for
amusement ?”
Answer —“ It leads to the formation
of bad habits, —gambling, drinking,
swearing ; and it is attended with loss of
time, loss of health, loss of reputation,
loss of peace, loss of fortune, and very
likely, loss of both body soul.”
A gentleman asked a negro boy to
take a pinch of snuff.
“No,” replied the boy respecfully,
“me tank you; Pomp's nose not hun
gry-”
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