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النشر الإلكتروني

MUSTAR

PRACTICING MEDICINE.

His face had more than its usual expression of disgust, and in the legend beneath he is made to say: "It is n't that I expect to find an honest man among you, but I really think you ought to replace my candle you have eaten."

Of the present outlook in black-andwhite caricature in the West, perhaps the less that is said the better. There is no regular paper on the Coast devoted to its publication, and that which is printed sees the light in a desultory way through the medium of programmes, circulars, and special publications. The Bohemian Club which has attracted to its fold all that is brightest, wittiest, and best in artistic and later artist came to approach outside affairs, literary circles, takes delight in inventing for as a rule his work took a turn that appealed its mystic "Jinks" entertainments elaborate to the general spirit of humanity, and the foreign personages and locality used became merely a setting for the more colorless idea. For instance, during the Russo-Turkish war, a local artist was inspired to draw an exceedingly good caricature whose setting was Russian throughout. But the foreign element ended there. The spirit of the conception lay in an appeal to something that any one not familiar with the war might understand.

On the one side stood Diogenes with an empty lantern, which he was holding up to. the inspection of a file of Russian soldiers.

programmes, on which the humorous taste of its members has been allowed to run riot. Some of these are marvels of beauty as well as fun, but, like many other things granted to the elect, they are guarded jealously from the public at large, and are seldom seen and enjoyed outside of a limited circle of the initiated.

Probably the best caricature today in California is unconscious. It is not confined to pictorial representations but walks the streets and illustrates more than one phase of life. We have taken to acting instead of printing our caricature.

Francis E. Sheldon. ps for Warren Cheney

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STUDENT BEVERAGES.- STRENGTH VARIES INVERSELY AS THE SIZE OF THE VOLUME.

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THE ARRIVAL OF THE MAGPIE.

THE peninsula of Lower California is generally considered to be a desert, rainless, devoid of cultivation, and worthless; not to be accepted as a gift. It is the only territory of Mexico, unless we consider the Federal District, which is scarcely entitled to be so called. Not very many years ago it contained upwards of a hundred thousand Indians, of whom not one is left of pure race, all having perished from disease, principally small-pox. Thus for hundreds of miles not a living soul is to be found.

Toward the southern extremity of the peninsula, around Cape St. Lucas, and from thence running a line northeast to the gulf, some thirty thousand people are settled, mostly Mexicans, engaged in stock raising. The peninsula is not more than sixty-five or seventy miles in breadth at this point. About the center, or somewhat nearer the gulf than the ocean coast, there is a very fine range of mountains, the highest peaks of which reach between six and seven thousand feet of altitude. At the base of this range, both east and west, are found the only unfailing streams of water that the country possesses, and in the vicinity of these the only land suitable for cultivation according to present methods. In the long narrow valleys formed by these streams, there are sugar plantations, a few rice fields, and orchards of oranges, citron, bananas, and other tropical fruits. The sugar is not refined, but the juice of the cane is run into moulds, and used or exported in the form of panocha, which looks somewhat like our crude maple sugar.

Aromatic herbs of many kinds abound, so that the beef, and more particularly venison, in the season, has the most delicious delicacy and flavor. Hence the country, that portion of it which is inhabited, at least, — is principally devoted to stock raising.

The rainy season begins in July, and is supposed to end in December. This must have some significance which the inhabitants have not yet discovered, for nothing is planted to depend upon these rains, the sugar planters irrigating their crops. In the mountains, the valleys are apt to open into a series of round basins in which the bed rock forms so as to collect the water, thus forming natural reservoirs, inexhaustible except during seasons of extreme drought. No use has ever been made of these except by the few "foreign " miners, who there find abundant water for their mills long after all surface moisture has disappeared. When men shall study with intelligence the full meaning of these new conditions under which nature presents itself, Lower California may prove to be as productive in its way as Alta California. We do not know as yet what are the products for which these conditions may be particularly adapted, but one day these subjects will be studied and made clear to all men.

The political struggles which have been the curse of Mexico sometimes reach even this remote locality. They are generally occasioned by the unpopularity or arbitrary conduct of the governor, appointed from the City of Mexico. In the troubles which ensue, the San José men, as the rancheros of the gulf coast are called, are generally found on one side, and the Todos Santos men of the ocean coast on the other. It has passed into a proverb that

From the sea, the country looks barren enough, but it ought not to be estimated by our standard. If land will not produce turnips and cabbages, we are too apt to pronounce it worthless. In fact, the soil produces a fine, nutritious grass, dry though it appears during nine months of the year, and the undergrowth of the acacia variety bears a bean and tender shoots upon which the stock browses eagerly. tle raisers, or what not, separated only by

VOL. XI.-30.

"Nations intercepted by a narrow firth Abhor each other."

So these worthy ranchmen, panocheros, cat

the narrowest of mountain ranges, were constantly in dispute. Whichever side the San José men espoused, the Todos Santos men op posed; and as this feud has lasted for generations, it was rarely that the inhabitants of one valley visited those of the other, except during a pronunciamiento, when they would sometimes invade each other's territory, as loyalists or rebels, as the case might be. The bloodshed was not generally great on these occasions, at least not during the prevalence of hostilities, but after a "battle," or at the close of a campaign, the victors were sometimes disposed to make short work of their political opponents, on the principle that dead men cannot hit back, and that "to the victors belong the spoils."

The very highest authorities, namely M. de Guillemin of France, and Baron Hubner, of Germany, have declared the mountain range which follows the gulf coast of the peninsula to be a continuation of the main Sierra Nevada range. Certainly, so far as explored, it has proven to be very rich in minerals of all descriptions, and it has also been demonstrated that the eastern slope bears silver and the western gold, as in Alta California. All the northern portion of the peninsula adjacent to the gulf is practically a terra incognita, even at this late day, but in the foothills of the noble range which separates San José from Todos Santos some quite extensive mines have been opened, and several hundred native miners have been at work upon them for many years, under the direction of foreigners, so called, principally Americans and Germans. These industries are of great importance to the prosperity of the country, since they produce a regular amount of treasure, pay their bands weekly in coin, and make money comparatively plentiful where once all was stagnation and poverty.

Most of these concerns were pretty strong, too strong to be in much danger of molestation during the pronunciamientos alluded to. Occasionally a timid manager was persuaded into granting a prestamo of a few hundred dollars, but generally their neutrality was respected; perhaps lest they should unite and prove too formidable for either or both belligerents.

One evening a young German, well mounted and armed, rode slowly up the head of the San José valley. His horse had gone lame, and was tired out, so much so, that the young fellow had abandoned all hope of reaching the mines that night. Presently he met a ranchero, whom he saluted, and asked if there was any place in the vicinity where he could find accommodation for the night.

"Si, Señor, El Rancho de La Chachalaca. There you will sup well, and be well entertained." There was a merry twinkle in the ranchero's eye, as he replied, which did not escape the traveler's observation.

"Magpie Ranch! I did not think there were any magpies about here; there are some south, I know, but I never heard of any in this vicinity."

"There is one, Señor," said the ranchero, with a broad grin.

The traveler looked puzzled, but seeing that there was nothing but good nature, and perhaps a little fun concealed, he inquired for exact directions to the house, and thanking his informant rode on his way. Soon he reached the summit of the hill, when he beheld the ranch, which he immediately recognized from the description as his destination.

It was a comfortable old farm-house, built of adobe, plastered and whitened. It had a slanting roof of palm thatch, laid upon rafters of slender palm, the thick and thin ends alternated. It had, too, a good broad shelter in front, also thatched with palm, and a "saddle rail," which served also to support the uprights. The kitchen was detached some three or four paces from the back-door. A number of heavy Mexican saddles, sudaderos, blankets, etc., hung upon the rail. The uprights had wooden pegs, upon which were suspended bridles, halters of horse hair, and spurs. A number of huge, clumsy pack saddles encumbered a corner of the portico, if it might be called such.

There was a spacious corral in front of the house, in which were a number of animals. From the knoll one could see the fields of sugar, the small presses, worked by mule power, and the distant range of mountains, the summits taking the most exquisite tints and the shadows the most delicate tones, as

the speed of her movements would set it in motion. He could hear her tongue rattling away in the kitchen with corresponding speed, producing, particularly when heard at a distance, a curious uniformity of sound, a certain rapid clack, clack, clack, which suggested a magpie, and at once furnished the young German with a key to the name of the ranch, and to the amusement of the worthy ranchero he had met upon the road.

the light gradually receded. A few cattle light object close by, the wind produced by came slowly up the road, lowing as they advanced, answered by those in the corral and occasionally from the distant fields. There were no stacks of hay, no barns, or storehouses, or stables. The mild climate rendered them unnecessary. The horses and mules are never housed, and no provision of hay or grain is ever made. Practically there is no winter. The stock is never fed except as it grazes in the fields, even the mules and horses being taken from the pasture and turned loose when their work is done.

Upon entering the house, the stranger was speedily met by a good-looking, smart señorita, who advanced with elastic step to receive him.

Like most Germans abroad, he was an excellent linguist, and spoke Spanish fluently. "Could you accommodate me with supper and a bed for the night?" he said. "My horse is foot-sore and too far gone to reach the mines this evening, I fear."

Presently, having started the machinery of the kitchen to her satisfaction, she reappeared, and placing a seat quietly in front of her guest, who was reclining comfortably in the rocker under the portico, she proceeded to question him with surprising directness :

"Where do you come from, Señor?" "From San Francisco."

"Where are you going to?"

"To the mine of Las Chureas. I am engaged as secretary there." "You are German ?"

"Si, Señorita."

All Ger

"You speak excellent Spanish. mans speak good Spanish. I like the GerSon muy caballeros, and very intel

mans.

"Frederick Eberhaus."

"Si, Señor," she replied, speaking with extraordinary rapidity, " with much pleasure, — why not"? Then clapping her hands rapidly, and producing a sound from them which could be heard quite a distance, she called, ligent. What is your name?" "Pepé, Tomás, Vicente, muchachos! Come ye, venga, venga, venga! Ye slow ones!" Then as they did not immediately appear, she uttered an exclamation of impatience, and excusing herself to the traveler, flitted off through the back door, and as speedily reappeared leading a clumsy, half-grown boy by the ear.

"There, Pepito, take charge of the gentleman's horse. Lead him to water, and then feed him well. No, do not mount him," she said, but Pepito had already sprung upon him, and regardless of his lameness, had started at a good pace for the spring.

She then hospitably insisted upon taking the traveler's hat and spurs, and going to an adjoining room brought him, with evident pride, an American rocking chair. She then bustled off to give some instructions in the As she did so, the traveler noticed that she moved with such rapidity as to make her short skirts fly, and if there was any very

"Then I will call you Don Federico. We shall be neighbors. It is only a short ride over to your mine. I have been there. It is a good mine, they say, and a rich company. My father cuts wood for the company, and sometimes carries freight for them. They are very good friends, but the Americans call him El Vapor, the steamboat, and the boys, Los Vaporcitos, the little steamboats. That is because my father always starts off in a great hurry,-though he does not always arrive. The boys too do not arrive, except Pepito ; he arrives always; one can fix oneself upon him, and — "

"And you, Señorita,-you always arrive, I am sure," said the young German, interrupting her and looking at her quizzically.

"Si, Señor Don Federico," she said conscientiously. "Siempre me llego ! I am never wanting. What would become of us without it. But excuse me, I go to the kitchen."

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