Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1879 — A Jarocho [ARTICLE]

A Jarocho

Suddenly, limned against such a background, a solitary horseman appeared. Photographed as hesat, a form of medium size rather sparely. built, with lithe sinewy limbs, and betrayed a vigorous life in his poise, his features, somewhat Moorish in type, but very handsome; an oval face, sharply defined: piercing black eyes, long Mack hair, lips and chin gparcely bearded, small, white, regular teetH, complexion of a dear brown, with a cinnamon or olive tint. He was dressed in foil ranchero costume, and more picturesque apparel is not anywhere to be found. A checkered kerchief bound abount the head, over which sat lightly a broad-brimmed hlack hat encircled with a band of shining pearls;amangaa circular cloak, of fo&rlet cloth, elaborately braided at the neck, fell back from his shoulders in folds as graceful as those of a Roman toga, showing the brilliant sash of scarlet crape around the waist; trousers of sky-blue velveteen; snow-white drawers, buff-leather boots, heavily spurred, completed the costume. This picturesque figure bestrode a fiery horse, pulled back upon its haunches in the suddenness of the halt, until his long tail swept the ground; both animal and rider remaining in that attitude for a few moments, as If suddenly turned into stone. It was a picture that could be seen only on Mexican soil—a Jarocho, pure and simple, the half-breed of the lowlands, the Gitano of the tierra caliente. Seeing him there, there was no mistaking him; from the crown of his broad sombrero to the sole of his Cordovan leather boots the dress proclaimed the man. Unlike the gypsy, to whom he bears so close a resemblance, and to whom his ancestry is eiten attributed, he is not a uomad, norjike him socially, either au outcast or a vagabond. The nominal proprietor of a few acres he is master of Che scenes around him, and varies intervals of leisure with occasional occupation. When not engaged as herder or agriculturist he collects honey from the forest, burns charcoal, hunts, fishes, takes a turn at peddling small wares, or turns his hand to smuggling.

A Dorn equestrian, the calling of vaquero, or cattle-hearder, best pleases nim. In this finds employment on the large grazing farms, in looking after the cattle ana horses that roam over the wide savannas. Such pastoral life is especially congenial to horsemen, galloping furiously over tile meadows and' through the chapparals. With estates where cultivation is carried on, he will have nothing |to do. Disliklug regular employment, agriculture savors too much of industry, since it necessitates toil. Systematic labor he leaves to. the patient and plodding Indian, who breaks the clod at this hour as in the days of Montezuma. A Jarocho on foot would be an anomaly, an impossibility. The idea of walking anywhere never seems to occur to him. His hone, or andante, as he calls it, stands ever ready saddled at the door, tied to a tree, or under a shed near at hand. If his errand be but fifty yards away, he never thinks of executing it on foot. He disdains a creeping method. Whatever the business, it must be executed in the saddle. Is water wanted to boil his frijoles, he slings a pair of water-jars that balance one another by a strap over the saddlebow. Then, mounting, he rides to the adjacent stream and wades in until the jars have filled themselves. Returning to the hut, he slips out of the saddle, and, if possible, leaves his wife or other member of the family to unload and secure the horse. Is wood needed to bake his „ tortillas, he brings it in the same free-and-easy fashion. Selecting a fallen log jst the forest —to fell one himself would be too much labor—he throws one end of the lasso over it and ties the other to his horse’s tail. Then mounting the animal, he drags the log to the hut, or more frequently inside, where it is set free and one end thrust into tne cinders. As the end burns oft it is pusfypd farther up until the whole is consumed and another required. In this easy fashion is the hearth replenished. If it were not easy the Jarocho would not do it.