TEXAS AND MEXICO (1888); Ranch (1836)

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OFF TOPIC:
   A few days ago, I didn't get a dialtone.  So I call up MCI Service, and
it's closed between 10 pm-7 am (Joey's gotta sleep).  So I call back then,
and they say unplug everything, wait 20 minutes, and plug everything in
again.  So I do that, and nothing happens.  So I call again, and they check
it out, and it's MCI's problem after all, and I'm promised phone service by 8
pm Wednesday.  But I don't have phone service, so I gotta pay this internet
cafe at 57th and 2nd...

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JOURNALISTS LETTERS
DESCRIPTIVE OF
TEXAS AND MEXICO.
   EDITED BY
ROBERT H. THOMAS
FARMERS' FRIEND PRINT
Mechanicburg, Pa.
1888

(Interesting for chili-con-carne--ed.)

Pg. 7 (INTRODUCTION):
   There will also be contradictiory opinions, for each pen tells its own
story as it saw with its own eyes.  One observer will insist that in making
_Tortillas_ the native spits upon his hands, another will distinctly refute
this.

Pg. 18:
   The _chile-non-carne_, or meat with pepper, was like a section of sheol,
served up _a la_ Dante.  The rest of the supper was of similar character.
When the visitors finished the novel repast they drank a dozen quarts of
water to cool their parched tongues.  Everything the Mexican eats is peppery.
 He is not satisfied with ordinary condiments, but demands red pepper galore.
 The _tamallas_ are not as bad as the other food.  They are made out of what
nobody knows done up in a cornshuck.  The _tortilla_ is a variety of
griddle-cake, composed of ashes and a little meal.

Pg. 39:
   Tortilla is a kind of bread, made of beaten or ground corn soaked in
alkaline water, well seasoned with pepper, baked.  In making them the women
mould the dough into cakes, and to prevent its sticking, _spit on their_
hands.  Pulque is a beer manufactured from the pulque or maguey plant.

Pg. 55:
   Both speaker pronounced "ideas" "ide-ars," reminding us of Col. Moore's
insistance on the pronunciation of "yeast" as "yest" in the Baker trial.

Pg. 56:
   The centres of the plaza or public squares are well taken up at night by
Mexican venders of chiliconcarne and tamales.  Chili-con-carne is made of
bits of boiled beef and red pepper seemingly in equal proportions, and
tamales consist of corn meal wrapped in husks and boiled.  Neither is a
favorite dish with us, but the Texans and Mexicans, who want something hot,
consider the stands great conveniences, and in the glare of the smoking
torches patronize them all night long.  The coming of the dawn is the signal
for the chiliconcarne merchants to reload their wagons and pull out for home,
to repeat the program next night and so on.

Pg. 75:
   There (sic) of the principal articles of food are tortillas, tamales and
chili-con-carne.  These, with fruits, form the staple diet of the masses.
The tortilla is made from corn which has been soaked in lime water until it
is softened and freed from the husks.  The corn is then mashed quite fine on
a kind of stone tray, by means of a smaller stone, pressed into a thin cake
with the hands, and baked on an open pottery vessel over a small charcoal
fire.  The chili-con-carne is meat of various kinds chopped up into hash,
mixed with almost or quite an equal quantity of red pepper, and stewed
together.  For the tamales, corn is mashed up the same as for tortillas, a
roll of it is made about one inch in diameter, with a small quantity of meat
and pepper through the center; the whole is then wrapped in a shuck and
boiled for several hours.  A hungry man can make a very satisfying meal on
tamales.  We have eaten lots of things in United States hotels and boarding
houses not nearly so palatable.

Pg. 91:
   History does not relate what became of the intelligent "pee-wee" bird, but
I dare say the Mexicans made "chilli-con-carne" of it before they followed
the eagle....

Pg. 149:
   MEXICAN VOCABULARY.
Mexico--Me-yhi-co.
(...)
Tortilla--Tor-tee-yo,...Small cake made of corn.
(...)
Mesdale (sic)--Mes-cal-e,...Mexican whisky.
Pulque--Pool-kah,...Drink.
Tamales--Ta-mah-lees,...Mexican dish.
Chili-con-carne--Chil-i-co-car-ne,...Pepper with meat.
(...)
Friyoles--Fri-yo-las,...Red beans.

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RANCH (1836)

   OED's 1831 "ranch" citation states that it's probably closer to another
sense of the word.  If so, then this is the earliest "ranch" of this meaning.

THREE YEARS IN TEXAS
by DR. JOSEPH E. FIELD
Greenfield, Mass.
JUSTIN JONES
1836

Pg. 25:
   A first, second and third messenger was sent to the Mission, without
bringing any information from our friends, except the last, who brought the
news of their disaster, having obtained it at a _ranch_, (a Mexican farm.)