NOTES AND INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6213, 15 October 1881, Page 6

NOTES AND INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.

♦ No. in. KANSAS CITY, AND ADVENTURES ON THE PRAIRIES. Visitors to Niagara will do well to see the American side illuminated by the electric light before quitting the greatest natural wonder in the world. From Niagara we took car 3 to Detroit and Chicago and thence to Kansas City— ■'To tho West, to the West, to the land of the free, "Where the mighty Missouri runs down to the sea !" On reaching Kansas City we were disgusted to find the mighty Missouri a muddy and turbulent river. Visions of floating by moonlight upon its silvery waves were banished forthwith, and we went to the theatre instead. Kansas City cannot boast of her theatre or the talent upon its boards. The performance consisted of fights with Red Indians, many heroic deeds by a backwoods trapper, and a wedding. This was diversified by a determined fight in the gallery between two huge ruffians. The immediate cause appeared to be a fiiir young uegress, who looked with dilated eyes upon the conflict, and was no doubt calculating the probable results to herself. At last there was a thug and a yell, and one of the combatants was hurled backwards amongst the benches. The discomfited hero sprang to his feet with a howl of defiance. Then the whole gallery rushed pell-mell out of the theatre, and no doubt the fight was continued outside and satisfactorily concluded. These rows are frequently got up to afford cover for a rush upon a respectable stranger, who seems a likely prey, a plan not unfrcqucntly pursued in continental music halls. However, we reached our hotel in safety, and proceeded to Topcka, and thence by the Atohison, Topeka, and Santa F<s Line to the Kansas prairies for some shooting. I found this line ver/ far from comfortable ; in some instances there was no smoking compartment to the drawing-room cars. However, in this case ten of us laid siege to, and took possession of, the baggage car, and bringing in some cases of beer and whiskey made ourselves comfortable for a long smoke. The baggage men were all around with large revolvers. The cars are not unfrcquently attacked by desperadoes who wreck the train, rob the mail, and passengers, then decamp. Even so far East as near Chicago a body of freebooters but a short time since came on to the cars as ordinary passengers, shot the driver and express man, rifled the passengers and mail, and made oil' safely with their booty. Tho distances between stations in the Far West are so great that facilities are offered to a determined body of men. Before reaching our destination we passed Dodge City, where a subseriptionof five hundred dollars had just been raised for the widow of the first man who betrayed to the Government officials any infringement of the Liquor Law. It had been enacted that spirituous and malt liquors should not be sold in Kansas State. The law had just come into operation, and as the Dodgers had no idea of giving up their "whiskey straights," and anticipating trouble, they had the forethought to raise a subscription at once for the first widow. This wns so significant of their intentions that the fund lias not yet been required. Our journey on the baggage car was whiled away with songs and tales of adventure until we readied Garden City. Here we went at once under canvas, tcii of us in one tent. Those accustomed to Western usages can imagine the scene. From songs our friends got to arguments, and from arguments to fighting and wrestling, but in a good-natured way. Nevertheless, as it was a small tent for ten men, we began to get mixed, and boots began to fly about. I was lying wrapped in my blanket by the side of a camp stretcher, upon which a huge Chicago man was snoring with terrible vehemence in suite of a volley of imprecations and boots 1 vH.nI at him from all sides, when suddenly u'.v black cook poked in his head. " Wolf prowling round out thar, gcnelmcn." In a moment some of the party had seized their rifles and sallied out after the wolf. Another moment crackcrack went a couple of rifles outside the tent, and within a foot of our heads. The Chicago man uttered a yell, and rolled off his stretcher upon my stomach, grappling with me immediately. However, peace was at length restored, the wolf disappeared, we returned to our blankets, and the Chicago man began to snore to such an extent that I was obliged to fortify my head with rugs and portmanteaux, for every now then a boot or a, sardine tin, and once a small bucket, came rattling along at the sleeper. At length we all slept the sleep of the tired until black Jake awoke us to a splendid breakfast in the adjoining tent. After breakfast we laid in a stock of provisions, hired a guide, horses, and waggons, and set out at once across the prairies. After journeying about 25 miles we came to Lavender Creek. Here we found Lavender, an old goldminer, who, having lost his all in the Black Hills, had taken to farming and cattle running. He came to our tent directly after dinner and warned us to beware of rattlesnakes, and told us where wo were likely to find antelope. We spent a most pleasant week at Lavender's Creek. Of sport we did not get much, as it was breeding time the antelope were shy ; and as the prairies were perfectly flat for miles, there was no opportunity of getting near them. However, I had an adventure. One day I went some distance from camp, and seeing a hawk determined to secure it. Raising my gun, I was about to fire, when I heard a rattle and a hiss at my feet. Glancing hastily down I saw, to my horror, a huge rattlehnake with its head thrown back, and in the act of striking. Uttering a cry of alarm, I sprang back, and the next moment had blown the reptile's head oil'. The bite of a rattlesnake is deadly. There is but one chance for the unfortunate man who is bitten, and that is to pour whiskey down his throat till he can contain no more. Whiskey is the only romedy. Ranchemen, ollicors, and medical men quartered in the Far West tell me they know of no other ; but they have frequently known whiskey, taken in large quantities, to save a man's life. Returning to Garden City we took train to Lamy, and then to the capital of New Mexico, by a branch line recently built ; there is another in contemplation which will connect it with tho Denver and Rio Grande at San Juan, a distance only of thirty miles. SANTA FE, THE OLDEST CITY IN AMERICA. At last we were in Santa Fu, the capital of New Mexico, the city of romance and adventure, and tho oldest city in America— old when New York was a swamp—old when Hernando Cortex came there—old when Coronado found it when searching for the seven eitie3 of Cibola and the kingdom of Quivira —and old when the Aztecs, led by Montezuma, settled there in the fourteenth century. Very few people, even in America, visit the Villa de Santa FcS. Until quite recently the journey would have been too toilsome. Siczing the first opportunity, I made use of my introduction to General Sheldon, the Governor of New Mexico, and was at once taken over this wonderful place. In the middle of the city is a large square or plaza beautifully shaded with cottonwood trees. Here are the principal hotels of the place, and here three times a week the military band plays to as curious a concourse of people as one can imagine. The principal street is San Francisco-street, which, like the others, run. oil from the plaza, and terminate in dusty lanes, fringed with adobes or mud dwellings, built by the Mexicans and Indians. I was first taken to the oldest house in America. It was an old square Pueblo Indian mud dwelling, standing near the San Miguel Church. This house was standing in 1342. It is a two-storey adobe, with a flat roof; there were no chairs, but the occupants reached the upper room and roof by means of a ladder. The church of San Miguel is the oldest church in America, and, like all the Roman Catholic churches in New Mexico, in a very ricketty, tumbledown condition. It is constructed of mud. The inside is whitewashed and covered with Spanish and American paintings, which are, some of them, if tradition may be believed, a thousand years old. They certainly look it. The next object of interest was the Chnrch of St. Guadalnpe, which is also adobe built, and looks in a far more shaky condition even than San Miguel. The following interesting legend was related by my guide. At the commencement of the fifteenth century there lived an Indian called Juan Diego. He was a good man, and one day was blessed with an apparition of the Blessed Virgin, who informed him that a chapel was to be erected. The bishop, to whom Juan related the occurrence, would not give it credence, and upon the Indian telling him that he had a second vision, ordered him from his xjresence. So the next time poor Juan saw the Blessed Virgin he begged that she would give him a sign. She then directed him to ascend a high mountain and gather a flower. Now it was mid-winter, and Juan knew that nothing but the cactus grew on the mountain indicated, but went as directed, and, to his joy, found a rare flower growing amongst the stones. Placing it carefully in his blanket, he ran at once to

the bishop, told him the story, and opened his blanket, when behold, a beautiful picture of the Holy Virgin appeared, woven with flowers into the blanket in such a manner as to resemble a painting. The bishop was convinced. The chapel was erected at Guadalupe, where the blanket and miraculous picture may still be seen over the altar. Several copies of this picture are to be ieen | in the church of St. Guadalupe, at Santa Fe. At Toas, San Juan and Tesugue Pueblos are pretty Indian villages, and well worth a visit. These, like Santa F<S, present to the stranger a most Oriental appearance. You see women bearing their pitchers to the well and grinding corn just as in the time of the Pharoahs. It is generally acknowledged that these dark-eyed Pueblo Indians, with their ancient customs and rites, are of Aztec origin. They still worship their Montezuma, and look for his coming every morning at sunrise. They are honest, industrious, and cheerful workers, employing themselves principally in making pottery and ploughing. Their plough is a sharp stick, which just scratches the earth. There is another stick and pole attached, to which the oxen are fastened tightly with raw hide; the wheels are cut out of a solid block of wood. There are now about 10,000 of these people scattered in 26 different pueblos throughout New Mexico. The population of Santa Fe is about 7000, of which more than threefourths are Mexicans, and the rest foreigners. Cleanliness does not appear to be a Mexican ■virtue. Many of their habits are extremely dirty. They live principally upon red pepper and bread, with sometimes a b'ttle mutton. The flooring of their houses is bare, and the walls whitewashed and lined with coloured calico. Yon rarely see any furniture in the houses of the poor; they sleep rolled up in sheepskins, which are always to be seen rolled up inside the doorway. The better class are courteous and hospitable. Dancing and gambling appear to be their greatest pleasure. They are great gamblers at Santa Fe. All night the saloons are illuminated, and the tables crowded with faro and monte players. S. R. Gγ.