Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ruped. Here and there a glow-worm showed his greenish light in a bush, or the silence was
broken by the shrill shriek peculiar to most nightbirds; the rest was the trampling of many
hoofs or the occasional snort of a horse. When riding at night one has the sensation of sitting
very high above the ground and distances seem endless. Long after midnight the moon rose
over the mountain ridges and bathed the rugged country in its cold, bluish light, making the
outlinesofthehugecactusplantslookalmostghostlyagainstthemoonlithorizon.Somestood
on hills like solitary giants on guard whilst others seemed to grope upwards like fantastic be-
ings of the deep.
Thesharpcrackofariflebroughtustoahaltlikeoneman.Therewasarustlingoffirearms
being unstrapped, and then all was silence again, excepting an occasional snort of a horse that
had scented danger. Some of the men slipped off their heavy sandals and silently disappeared
into the darkness of the bushes, and they had not been gone long when a loud
alto
! (halt) rang
through the night, and presently several voices were heard. Soon the soldiers returned with a
man who was immediately questioned, but he pleaded to be quite
inofensivo
and said he was
on his way to the nearest village. The
comandante
was not satisfied with the man's answers
and we all went to examine the place ahead where he had been captured, and after a short
search we found a rifle hidden in a bush. The man pretended to know nothing about it, but
when we went through his pockets we found some ammunition that fitted the rifle, which had
obviously been fired only a few minutes before. Without further ado the
comandante
ordered
the man to be bound and taken along with us, and I never knew what happened to him after
the escort had left me.
Shortly after daylight we came to a swift mountain river. The men proved to be excellent
in the water, and their horses, who were of the region, swam across as if it were only a duck-
pond, and we soon reached a poor settlement by the name of Jalapa del Marques, where we
had something to eat and then lay down to have a rest; owing to the heat and swarms of flies,
however, sleeping was impossible.
Towards evening I had to go to a dance that had been organised in a hurry, but I must
confess that I should have enjoyed a good sleep much more. Although there are no railroads,
telegraphs nor telephones in any of these far-away places, it is amazing how fast news travels,
and thus our arrival was expected in most places we touched. The occasion must have been
a good excuse, for already at that early hour some of the men showed the effects of alcohol,
and, although the people belonged to the poor peasant class of Mexico, the dance was a merry
and jovial affair.
Inthisparttheyhaveaspecialdance,exclusivelyforoldwomenwhoamusethemselvesas
muchastheyoungeronlookers.Theband(!?)strikesupaloudandmerrytuneandtheoldwo-
men hop into the centre of the gathering with big neckscarves in their hands which they wave
inimitationofbullfighters,andpresentlythemencomeinandrushatthescarveslikeenraged
bulls. Every time they have a chance they smack the old ladies where the back changes its
name. The women try to retaliate, and this goes on until they give up, tired out. This dance,
