The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 5, 1899, Page 22

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 1899. o v AN DIEGO, Jan. 30.—The last stand meade by Indian savages on this continent is at Tiburon Island In the Gulf of California. The Yaquils, unconquered from time immemo- rial, have at last patched up a peace with the Mexican Government. The Apaches, terrible by reputation and in reality, are pretty thoroughly cowed and sonttered. The Utes, as bloodthirsty as the Apaches, aré surrounded by miners and freighters, who promptly kill them off if they begin & raid. All these Indians | are more or less civilized or toned down | by contact with the whites. The Seris of | Tiburon alone are savages, pure and sim- | ple, with heathen rites and brutish cus- toms. It has been pretty generally disproved, however, that the Seris are cannibals. | Once it ‘was declared with positiveness | that they ate human flesh. The Mexicans | among the Indians. of Bonora, who see more or less of the, Seris, especially the women, declare that | the Indlans are not eaters of human flesh. They eat raw flesh, however, either of antmals or fish, and esteem burro meat | above all others. The bucks of the Seri tribe used occa- slonally to visit the Mexican ranches of | San Francisco de Costa Rica and Santa Ana, owned by Don Pascual Encinas. The | Costa Rica ranch is fifteen miles from the | gulf, and the nearest settlement: to Tibu- ron. Santa Ana ranch is north of Costa Rica. Both are cattle and horse ranches, feeding thousands of head. The vaqueros are young Mexicans and Papago Indians, with occasionally a Yaqui. The Papagos | have the reputation all through the| Southwest of being the best fighters | They are better rifle shots than the Apaches or Seris, and stick to a trail longer. The Seris are in mortal dread of the Papagos, for the lat- ter never let up in the chase when once | they are aroused. The Apaches, too, have been “cleaned out” several times by the | Papagos. The Sonora country opposite Tiburon | Island ts level and covered with brush— | palo fierro or ironwood, mesquite, palo verde, garambullo, etc. Occasionally | there is a giant suhuaro cactus, holding its great arms up as if supplicating for rain. The streams run only in the rainy season, and therefore it is necessary to | aig wells to supply livestock. It was in| O At eas tak anbpahssananahbanEORAe BARNUM'S ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN On How to Succeed in Life. 44444044444 + 4444444 “*There is a tide in the Wrien, taken at the fortune.” Phineas T. Barnum—the greatest show- man the world has ever known—took ad- vantage of the “tide In the affairs of hen,” and it gave him fame and fortune. The great showman loved young people. He took keen enjoyment in making “the greatest snow on earth” of particular in- ferest to children, and when the “chil- dren” had grown to manhood and woman- hood he took the same interest in them. But it was his interest in young men that led him, on his deathbed—being un- able to write—to dictate at the closing of his useful life his advice to young men just starting down the stream of life's journey. In his last words to young men he summed up the experience of his own jife. The great showman was a believer in “honesty is the best policy.” And an in- teresting incident is related of him which §s timely now that his advice is published for the first time, because Mr. Barnum dwells much upon honesty. “Well,” sald Barnum to & friend, in 1541, “I am going to buy the American useum. “Buy {riend, # doMar. with?"” “Brass,” was the prompt reply, “‘for gilver and gold have I none.” Francis Olmstead, who owned the Mu- geum building, consulted numerous refer- ences, all telling of a “good showman who would do as he agreed,” and accepted a affairs of men flood, leads on to 1t!” exclaimed the astonished who knew the showman had not “What do you intend to buy it proposition to give security for the pur- | Six months later Mr. Olmstead bappened to enter the ticket office at noon and found Barnum eating for dinner a few glices of bread and some corned beef. s this the way you eat your dinner?” ed. “I have not eaten a warm dinner since 1 bought the museum, except on the. Sab- bath; and I intend never to eat another until T get out of debt,” was Barnum's reply. arnum peld for the museum before hat year was out. The ‘man who rode a horse in his youth for 10 cents a day said that we live in a new and exceptional age; that America is another name for Opportunity; that character Is power—is influence; it makes chaser. From a Manuscript That Has Just Been Discovered Among the Great Showman's Private Papers. P S et R L R R S SR AR AR AR AR Ah s | triends, creates funds, draws pat- ronage and support, and opens a sure and easy way to wealth, honor and happi- ness. As there is nothing in the world great but man, there is nothing truly | great in man but character. His object in writing his advice to young men was to encourage, Inspire and ! stimulate those who long to be somebody, | to do something fn the world, but feel that they have no chance. Barnum died on April &, 1891. The man- useript, dictated and slgned December 6, 1890, was held in the hope that he might elaborate it by writing of other phases of life. After his death the manuscript was stowed away and Barnum's last words to voung men have never reached them until now. The manuscript is now in a New Yorker's autograph _collection. Young Americans will do well to follow the great showman's advice, which Is | printed exactly as he dictated and signed | it, including Mr. Barnum's own “heads.” eie 4 DD to your equipments typewrit- ing and stenography, both of which will be useful to you, either as employe or employer. | I believe the time is not far dis- tant when both will be an.integral part of a business educano‘ Jjust as much so as arithmetic. Choice of Business. Choose carefully the work most con- genial and for which you feel most fitted. If you cannot find it at once take the next best place you can get and do your best in it, whatever it may be. You will be forming habits of sys- tematic industry which will be invalu- able to you when you find the right thing, and you will prove to yourself and to others the capacity for work that is in you. Don’t wait for the place ou want in an idleness which will fill you with chimerical ideas and visionary ionging for the impossible opportunities to become rich at one bound. Idle wait- ing demoralizes the waiter, and . no- body wants the man who is content to walt. *“All things come to him who waits,” but it is the manner of the walting that insures the coming of all things, If you do your best always for your employer, as much as for yourself, you will surely AP P b4 | find your right vocation. But until you do, take the advice of the inscription | over the fireplace of Luther’s house and ‘““do the next thynge.” Good Habits. Keep your brain free from the fumes | of alcohol, your blood free from its taint. Avoid tobacco, as the poison it really is. Keep yourself clean physi- cally and morally. Give your body the | care you would give to any machine of | which you require good work. Honesty the Best Policy. | There is no such thing as a trifling | dishonesty, but there may be dishon- | | esty for a trifiing gain, and many a man has ruined his financial future by | what he felt was a very slight lapse. I knew of one man who lost a lucra- | tive position of trust which he had held | many years, when it was found that | he had had his private account for coal incorporated in his employer’s bill. I myself discharged a valuable assistant who helped himself to my postage stamps for his own correspondence. At | one time I was about to embark in a | business venture of considerable mag- nitude with a man who had Impressed me favorably. ‘While our arrangements were pend- ing I gave him money to buy for him- gelf and me two theater tickets. Us- ing m:y name he secured complimentary tickets, but took my money and let me think he had bought them. A casual glance at the tickets showed me a man- ager's private mark which I recognized, | and I had no more dealings with a man to whom I had been about to en- trust hundreds of thousands of dol- lars. Large employers are obliged to sift carefully their men and reject the unreliable. A Good Name. Make strictest integrity the rule of every business art. Do this because it is right and net solely and chiefly be- | cause “honesty is the best policy.” If your word is always'your bond,” if no pleasure nor persuasion will induce you to be in the smallest degree dishonest, you have already one of the main ele- | ments of success. Strict integrity can no more be hidden than “love, a cough, smoke and money,” and commands a price in the labor market proportionate to its excellence and scarcity. How rare it is, {s perhaps only realized by| 'KILCL YOUR OWN SON!" “THIS 1S THE PITY | WILL GIVE You’ SAAGE.S ®Nmr CONTINENT dlgging the first well in that country, at Costa Rica ranch, that Pedro Encinas, son of old Don Pascual, almost lost his life through Seri treachery. Young Encinas had no help except the Seris, who at that time frequently crossed to the mainland in their catamarans at a place called the Embarcadero. The Se- ris professed the greatest friendship with the white man. But the white man ecar- rled a rifle and six-shooter constantly, and never permitted a situation where the Indians would have him at a dis- advantage. For instance, he would never descend Into the well unless some of the Indians preceded him. He knew he would be stoned to death in an instant by the treacherous brutes. But with some of their number in the well He felt safe. In this manner the well was slowly sunk to a depth of 150 feet. The only means of holsting was a windlass. One day young Encinas had occasion to ascend to the surface. He stuck his foot in the rope and gave the signal. There were two Indlans in the well, and the others were at the top holsting. When the Seris had hoisted Encinas half way they suddenly stopped. The Mexican instantly fell a chill of horror. He knew mischief was brewing, with his life as the forfeit if the Indians could catch him napping. But, steady- ing his voice, he called out, asking why they stopped. large employers looking for trust-wor- thy subordinates and rich men seeking reliable executors. This comprehensive, far-reaching quality of unflinching trustfulness and honesty affects all who comde in contact with it and fm- plies respect in the most unscrupulous. Of one of my employes who had this virtue in its fullest development, I could tell many apposite and amusing storles. Many men are more brilllant, some are more amiable, but none are more valued and liked. On one occasion the giant Chang, who had lost by death the trusted agent who had served him for many years, was referred to this aid of mine by a candidate for the vacant place. On askine Mr. as to his knowl- edge of the applicant’s character and capacity, he received the reply “Have nothing to do with him, he {s an un- scrupulous raseal.” Naturally, Chang did not engage the man so described. Next day the disappointed applicant, in great disgust and vexation, accosted Mr. with “Why did you say such abominable things of me to Chang?” “Simply,” said Mr. “because they. are true.”” It sometimes happens that the canvas men of my great | show and their paymasters do not take exactly the same view of salaries due, | and many times it has happened that the dissatisfied person has sald, “Well, I'll leave it to Mr. ——; if he says it is all right, it is right.” The value of a man whose word is taken unhesi- tatingly by his chief and subordinates must be apparent to the veriest tyro in business. Benefit to Children. Not only to yourself but to your chil- dren will your good habits, good mor- als and good name be incalculable bles- sings. We know that ' unfortunately goodness is not invariably transmitted from parent to child. We see it every day, and If we were tempted to over- look it, we should be reminded of it by pessimistic proverbs, apropos of “black sheep in every fold,” “clergy- men’s sons,” etc. But your son has just as much chance of inheriting your moral tendencies as he has of inherit- ing your blue eyes or black hair. His morals may be the duplicate of yours, just as much as his physique may. Your name, good cr bad, he must in- herit and be helped or handicapped thereby. You can give him no riches that can compare with a good name and a good example. The men who know what you are will expect the same of your son, and until he has proved what metal he ismade of they will “giv him the benefit of the doubt,” and he can get a better position and more easily than a young man of whose fam- ily nothing, or nothing good, is known. I could give you many instances of this, but one illustration will suffice, One of my head men has two young sons. A friend of mine who has gained great wealth by industry, shrewdness and that business capacity, one great element of which is the power to read character and determine who will make the best employes, offered to the eldest No puedo trabajar mas,” was the re- ply. “El muchacho muy cansado.” I cannot work any more. The boy Is very tired.”) Young Encinas meantime hung between top and bottom, facing death. He rapidly | surveyed the situation, but saw that he | could do nothing. Thanks to his precau- | tion in having the Indians in the well, | he felt assured that the men at the wind- | las would not dare to let him drop, thus killing some of their own people. He heard, nevertheless, with a great deal of foreboding, the mutterisgs of the savages above his head. Finally, after an hour of horrible suspense, the Indlans returned to the creaking windlass and pulled him out. Apparently their simple minds saw an excellent chance to kill him, but they could not devise the way to do it without kllling some of their own number. Since the Seris murdered Captain George 1 Porter and Sailor John Johnson at Tibu- ron Island something over a year ago, the bucks have kept away from the Mexlcln’ ranches. They stick close to the island, | and live on fish and turtle. The women | have only recently resumed their visits to the ranches, to pick up a little prop- erty in the way of cast-off clothing, etc. | On these visits they put on all their cloth- | ing, leaving none .at all on the island. But at best they are in rags, not sufficient to hide their nakedness. In squalor and depth of degradation they cannot be com- pared with any other Indians of the West. On one of the women recently visiting the ranch was a large mantle made of pelican skin. The skins of five or six pelicans are used to make their wraps. | ‘With these and the hides of wildcats the Indians manage to cover themselves in | very cold weather. At other seasons they go naked. They have no houses whatever, their abiding places being merely tempo- rary camps on the bare ground, with a | campfire sometimes and sometimes not. | If they are hard pressed for shelter they take the tops of two adjoining bushes and draw them together and tle them, finding a little shelter underneath. { Efforts have been made time and time | again by the Mexicans and by American scientists to discover the tribal customs and laws.of the Serfs. Very little infor- mation is obtainable. This is for the rea- | son that no one man, Mexican or Ameri- can, is safe among the Indians, and the savages themselves give little light on their home life. Tt is known that until | | | recently there were two chiefs, each ap- parently with equal power—Mata de Maiz (Corn Stalk) and Pelado (Peeled). Pelado is dead, and his successor is not known. So far as ascertainable these chiefs are the repository of all power. At the same time the trtbe has customs of unknown antiquity over which the chiefs have no control. 3 | son, as soon as he left school, a place in his office. By and by, he said, “I want the younger boy also, for I like the stock.” The father of these boys, an orphan, and without any extraneous aid, rose in England from direst pov- erty to competence. His sons, in this land of larger opportunities and with the heritage of their father's good name and theincalculable advantage of his example and training, may become affluent—ability commands . success. When A. T. Stewart was in the first flush of enthusiasm over his plan of building a model city, he sent for a skilled architect, a relative of mine, of whose ability and honesty he had the highest opinion. Laying before the man his scheme, dilating on the beauty and sanitation of which he proposed to make his Garden City the incarnatfon, he ended by saying: “Now, I want you to take entire charge of this thing and carry it through. Make the contracts, see that they.are correct and carried out aright, pay all bills, etc.” The arch- ftect heard him through, then ' said very quietly, “Mr. Stewart, the man you want is doing business for himself.” “Who is he?” inquired Mr. Stewart with quick curiosity and the evident intention of securing him at any price. “Any man,” said the architect, “who has the knowledge and ability to do what you require is inevitably at the head of an army of subordinates. Such gkill and executive ability never stays in the ranks.” PHINEAS T. BARNUM. —_—————————— According to the laws of good soclety in China young widows should not remarry. Widowhood is therefore held in the high- est esteem, and the eolder the widow gfows the more agreeable her position be- Bomes. Should she reach 50 years she ““by applying to the Emperor, get a sum ' of money with which to buy’'a tab- Tet, on which her virtues are named. The tablet is placed over the door of the prin- cipal entrance of her house. ———— oser Handel was an enormous eater. It is sald that at a tav- ern he always ordered dinner for three. “pinner is quite ready, sir, when the company come,” said a walter to him one The great com When a Seri girl arrives at womanhood she is made to sit at the end of a small lane made of branches stuck in the ground, while there is a feast and dance. At the end of the dance the girl walks through, the lane and is thus officially proclaimed a woman and marriageable. The bucks secure wives by trading skins, weapons or other valuables for them, the father of the girl getting all he can and the lover giving as little as possible. The islanders have a stern code some- where in their jurisprudence, as was shown some years ago when the Mexican Government took steps to punish them for the murder of a Mexican citizen. Word was sent that the murderers must be surrendered immediately to the Mexican authoritles or the whole island would be cleaned out. The two chiefs, after vain parleying, finally replied by sending to the Mexicans the heads and hands of the offending tribesmen. They explained that it was needless to send in the whole body, as the head would identify the murderer and the hand would prove that no more killing could be done by it. A number of years ago the Seris kilied a Mexican woman, whom they had tried to capture alive. The whole country was aroused, as this was a repeated offense. Several Mexican girls had been abducted by the Indians years before and forced to live with their savage captors. The leader of the avenging band of cowboys and ranchers was Ignacio Encinas, another son of Don Pascual. It was the boast of this band that they killed 125 Seris, men, women and children, in that one day’s hunt. They pursued the Indlans to the island, surprised them and shot them down like animals. Ignaclo Encinas, at the head of the troop, encountered a rather comely looking squaw, who was sald to be descended from a Mexican woman captured years before. Rumor had it that Encinas was the father of the papoose she carried. At any rate, when he strode through the camp she flung the child up before her. erying: “Pity! Do not kill your own son!” “What does a Serl know of pity?” shouted Encinas. *“This is the pity I will give you!” and he slashed them down with his machete. Such incidents as these have had their influence in preventing the pacification of the Seris and the opening of the island to exploration. The bucks of the tribe are extremely active and warlike. They like nothing better than fighting so long as the ad- vantage is on their side. They wiil plot and lle In walt for years in order to re- venge themselves for wrongs real or fancied. The vaqueros, rounding up their cattle on the range, sometimes ride with- in sight of the island, but they are ex- tremely cautious when approaching as close as this. They generally ride in groups and keep a lively lookout against surprise. The Seris have a plan of dig- ging little holes in the eartn in which they hide for hours and even days. The eye glancing over the expanse of sandy ground broken only by stunted brush sees no sign of such ambuscades. The murder of small bands of cowboys has made the gthers very alert and watchful. By some manner, supposedly through the murder of victims, the Seris have ob- tained possession of a number of rifles. They cannot get cartridges, however, and are, therefore, reduced to the exercise of censiderable ingenuity in providing am- munition. They make their own car- tridges by taking pleces of green raw- hide and molding them to the shape of a artridge and filling it with powder and lead, or with a small pebble if lead is not at hand. For a percussion cap they day. “Den pring up de_dinner,” sald Anz\fcl:& German; I am de ;ompu;![al take & common parlor match and stick it in the hole in the end of the cartridge. They send their women over to the main- land, where they steal or trade for matches. These cartridges are sometimes slow in exploding, but they are really quite successful. The main weapons of the Seris, how- ever, are bows and arrows and a short spear, used for catching fish as well as fighting. The bows are made of the gar- ambullo wood, fortified by rawhide or d_merskln. The arrows are made of the car- riso and are nowadays tipped with iron | or brass, which the Indians get from | wrecked boats, or pick up about the cat- | tle ranches. They invariably poison their arrows for killing their enemies. The poi- son is obtained by hanging up a cow's liver to putrefy, when the arrows’ tips are dipped in the mass. Sometimes a rat- tlesnake is excited into biting the liver, thus making the poison more deadly. Like all wild people, the Seris are en- dowed with strong bodies and great en- durance. They literally run a deer to death, and have been known to capture horses the same way. They take the trail and follow the animal until it drops of exhaustion. The Seri’s feet are long and narrow, much unlike the Yaqui's, which | are broad. The Seris are of all sizes, some of the men reaching a height of almost seven feet. Most of the men, in fact, are tall and powerful, while the women are not above medium height. All paint thelr faces with ugly colors. Of the squaws pictured here only one could speak Spanish. She was the old woman with the pelican mantle. The others spoke the savage tongue only. It is guttural and entirely unintelligible to the neighboring Indians. The women are shrewd and bargain well. They are full of laughter and profess the greatest friendship for the whites, inviting them to the island and saying that no harm can come to them. They are deft in weaving baskets and bowls of the tender bark ob- tained from the roots of mesquite trees. Some of these baskets are so made as to hold water without leaking. The Seris have peculiar ideas regarding sickness. They are in mortal terror of it. Some of them are pockmarked, which shows that they have struggled through smallpox unaided. When a member of the tribe becomes f{ll, no matter what his grade nor the number of his relatives, he is instantly deserted and left to dle or get well as nature determines, On no ac- count can a Seri be induced to stay and nurse the sick. At the Mexican ranches, during a smallpox scare, a Serl became {ll. His wife, without an instant's hesita- tion, rolled up her bundle of clothing and started for the island. Looking back, with tears streaming down her face, she bade her husband farewell. Nothing could induce her to remain. On the island the sick are placed on a pelican-skin blanket and left in a secluded place, with an olla of water near their hand. If they sur- vive, it is well; and if they die, the spot is visited after a week's time and the body burned. The heat renders the bodles com- bustible, and it is said that they are to- tally consumed without the aid of any fuel. —_————— Some women are as clever and original when 1t comes to making a living as other women are helpless and dull. The frog farm of Miss Mona Selden, for instance, is one of the most unusual business ventures that any woman was ever laughed at for making. It seems that Miss Selden was hoolteacher until a few years ago. ghscwa! robably a good teacher, still her choice OP a profession was not exactly original or uncommon. Not uncommon, either, was the {ll health which overtook her in the sober and beaten track of her duties. Perhaps it was a failing appetite which led her to inquire the price of frogs’ legs in the market. Perhaps, too, it was a failing pocket book which made her meditate ruefully on the price she heard—meditate ruefully at first, but aft- erward with an increasing hopefulness. At any rate, Miss Selden conceived the jdea of raising frogs' legs herself, and When she began to look for a suitable lace for the experiment she came upon riendship, New Jersey. Friendship is surrounded with marshes, bogs and ponds, and is ideally adapted to frog culture. The people of that sectlon, however, had never thought of it in that light; so, when Miss Selden offered to buy thelr land—which was principally water—at $2 an acre, they sold it gleefully, turning meanwhile a deaf ear to the reproachful voice of conscience. Then they waited to see what was going to happen. The first thing that happened was the fencing in with wire strands of Miss Selden’s newly acquired property. This caused her neigh- bors to shake their heads, while they meaningly tapped their own intellectual brows. It is said that Miss Seldgn spent the winter learning to hit a tafget the size of a frog, and succeeded so well that when spring came she took her rifle and picked off frogs as easily as she had once called the roll in her schoolroom. It is also stated that she has made from $3000 to $5000 a year out of her frog crop, and that her neighbors have ceased.tapping their brows, and Instead respectfully take off their hats to her. Pocket-picking is an occupation that admits of a vast display of ingenuity. While disclaiming any particular merit for that country, it s an indisputable fact that again England is in the van of all nations in that her pickpockets hold their own against all foreign competition. In London alone over 100,000 men, women and children gain their daily bread entirely by this unscrupulous mode of living. e e Maudie's papa s night editor on a news- aper, a fact which Maudie apparently asn't learned, for when some one asked her a few days ago what her father did for a living she replied: “I'dlv it up. I fink he’s a burglar, "tause he's out all night.”