New York Dispatch

A FEMALE LIAR.
A LONDON LADY'S STRANGE SIGHTS IN SOUTH AMERICA.

Mrs. Marion Mulhall, an English lady, who has recently written an extraordinary book called "Between the Amazon and the Andes," told the following veracious tales of her tropical experience the other day to a correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

"South American spiders seem like the evil spirits of the insect world. My hat was not infrequently knocked off by their strong webs, stretched from tree to tree, the great, hairy fellows, big as one's hand, looking on with quiet satisfaction. The largest of them suggest catching birds. One day among some swarms black crabs, and supply their larder by friends the puu veranda Brazilian house, I exclaimed at the sight of one of these monster tarantulas making its way toward my feet. Quick as thought the gentleman next to me threw his fork at it with such good aim that the prongs entered its body, when, to our astonishment, the unwelcome visitor coolly walked off with the silver utensil sticking in him. But these monster spiders are not so venomous as the smaller ones that abound in the forests: and they are not all vagabonds and idlers. For instance, one species, which is perfectly harmless, and cluster like bees, makes a beautiful white silk thread, very suitable for weaving, especially into stockings, several pairs of which have been presented to dignitaries as curiosities, and it is an industry which only needs encouragement.

Again, the web of another spider furnished patterns for the exquisite non-duty lace made of the caraguatay fibre by the natives of Paraguay. This lace is very beautiful, and perfectly distinct from any other kind. It takes months of steady work to finish one piece, and such is the delicacy of the thread that the women have to make it indoors lest a whiff of air should disarrange the design. Handkerchiefs of it are worth from five dollars to thirty-five dollars each. Madame Colladas's house, where I visited, and which once belonged to Lopez, had a salon, the walls and ceiling of which were hung with non-duty lace on a groundwork of crimson satin. To produce this fairy-like effect took hundreds of women a number of years.

"Among other insects which attracted my attention were the locusts, which I encountered once in a cloud as thick as a snowstorm. We were traveling by train for Rosario, and were unable to see five yards ahead; in fact, could hardly breathe, the air was so heavy. At last we came to a dead stop, and the engineer declared we could proceed no further unless the passengers got out and helped to clear the wheels, which the oil of the crushed locusts had made so slippery that they went round and round in the same place. Another dull-colored and more dangerous insect is the blind wasp, which, if it knocks against any portion of your skin, causes instant death.

"The imagination could hardly depict a land in which human life is held in such light esteem, and bloodshed so little frowned upon as in South America. There are times when crime assumes an epidemic form, which lasts perhaps a month, and is followed by an interval of comparative security. There is no doubt that atmospheric changes have great influence, for whenever the north wind blows, the prison is filled with criminals, who declare they are not answerable for what they do during the viento del norte. It certainly has an extraordinary effect, many of the natives dreading it so much that they shut themselves up while it lasts, wearing apht beans bound on their temples as a remedy (and a very good one it is) for the headache common at such seasons. I found the effect very enervating myself, and was told that the air derived its principal qualities from passing over the poisoned forests of Brazil.

"One day we visited a prison in Montevideo and saw one hundred and forty-two prisoners, who passed their time in playing cards. One noted bandit among them had murdered fifteen men, several of them merely for the silver buttons on their belts. Another, with a most repulsive and sinister face, proved to be Guemes, the half-caste, who was walking in the public square one day when he saw a group of people listening to the merry tunes of a Sicilian organ-grinder. Without a word of warning, Guemes coolly sauntered up to the luckless musician, cut off his head with a knife, put it on the organ, and began turning the handle himself, to the horror of the bystanders, who were too terrified to move.

"Among other wonderful things which we saw in South America were the magnificent private estates. First and foremost of them in that of General Urquiza, in Entre Rios. It is called San Jose, and is of such extent that one can ride a week in a straight line without reaching the boundaries. As we passed along we saw more than half a million sheep and cows, and several troops of ostriches, almost tame, the penalty for killing one of them being a year's military service. There was a sort of barbaric splendor about the palace, which was built somewhat in the style of an Italian villa, with great turrets at either end, and surrounded by vast gardens.

"We found the general setting out some plants, of which he had every variety: indeed, he gave away every year over ten thousand. He showed us superb cherry trees that had cost him six hundred dollars each, and for which he sent to Bordeaux for a special gardener. Immense groves of orange, peach, and pear trees covered an extent of two square miles, and in them Madam Urquiza raised bees in such numbers that she made wax-candles for all the churches in Entre Rios, including the chapel to the palace, the beautiful interior of which was carved in Genoese marble, and supplied with the richest vestments and gold altar service.

"We found the vegetation of the country both luxuriant and curious. The soil, generally speaking, is so rich that anything will grow in abundance. In Carapachez I saw two oxen drawing a wagonful of watermelons, and yet there were only five in the wagon. The quinces were several feet in circumference. The usual fence is the prickly pear, which grows so high and is so impenetrable that it is planted on the frontier to keep back the Indians. The pampas in some places are covered with thistles, which grow so high that I was told of a man who spent a week looking for a flock of sheep, and at last found them in the thistles, not a mile from his house.

Where there are no thistles the ground is covered with bright scarlet verbenas, heliotropes and a delicate violet flower. Peaches are so abundant that they are used for fattening pigs and cattle."