NORTHWESTERN CHIHUAHUA—PREPARING FOR THE EXPEDITION—FROM DEMING, N. M., TO CASAS GRANDES, CHIHUAHUA. T he first chapter describing an expedition is liable to be prosaic to the point of dullness. It is full of promises that are expected to be realized, while as yet nothing has been done. Not one-tenth of these may formulate, and yet the expedition may be a success in unexpected results; for in no undertaking is there so much uncertainty as in travel through little known countries. Then, again, th

NORTHWESTERN CHIHUAHUA (CONTINUED)—MEXICAN MORMON COLONIES—FROM LA ASCENSION TO CORRALITOS—SOME RUINS ALONG THE TAPASITA—A TOLTEC BABYLON. I t is sixty to sixty-five miles from Las Palomas to La Ascension, and not a settlement or a sign of life except jack rabbits, coyotes, and customhouse officers is to be seen throughout the whole length of this unusually rich country, so effectually did the Apaches enforce their restrictive tariff but a few years ago. At rare intervals great haciendas are fou

SONORA—ALONG THE SONORA RAILWAY— HERMOSILLO—GUAYMAS, AND ITS BEAUTIFUL HARBOR—FISHING AND HUNTING ABOUT GUAYMAS. F rom Deming, N. M., it is but a five or six hours' ride by rail to Benson in Arizona, the initial point of the Sonora railway, a branch of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé, and extending to the seaport of Guaymas in Mexico. The ride from Benson consumes two days, and the route is through the mountains, down the lovely, fertile valleys, and across the flat, tropical country of the s

CENTRAL CHIHUAHUA—FROM THE CITY OF CHIHUAHUA WESTWARD TO THE GREAT MEXICAN MINING BELT. W hile in Guaymas and discussing a practicable route into the heart of the Sierra Madres, I was told by the general commanding the division in which Guaymas was situated, and strongly advised by others having a knowledge of the country, not to attempt an entrance into the mountains from the western side, but rather from the high plateaus, of which the city of Chihuahua was the central point. There were many e

CENTRAL CHIHUAHUA—IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING CAVE AND CLIFF DWELLERS—THE TARAHUMARI INDIANS, CIVILIZED AND SAVAGE. I propose to devote the greater portion of this chapter to a consideration of the Tarahumari Indians of Central and Southwestern Chihuahua, a tribe of aborigines that I have occasionally seen mentioned in works and articles on Mexico (especially its northern part), but of which I can find no detailed account anywhere in the literature I possess of this region. The fact of my having b

THROUGH THE SIERRA MADRES—ON MULE-BACK WESTWARD FROM CARICHIC. A s our next month was passed on mule-back, and Mexican mule-back at that, I think it would be not at all inappropriate to make a brief dissertation on this kind of brute for the necessary merits and demerits of the journey. The Mexican mule is a sort of a cross between a mountain goat and a flying squirrel, with the distinct difference that its surplus electricity flows off from the negative pole instead of the positive, as with the

SOUTHWESTERN CHIHUAHUA—AMONG THE CAVE AND CLIFF DWELLERS IN THE HEART OF THE SIERRA MADRE RANGE. T hat night our camp was in an immense pine forest on the crest of one of the high peaks, and here we parted with our Mexican friend Don Augustin Becerra, to whom we had already become deeply indebted, and who found it necessary to hasten on to his father's mines at Urique, which we were to make more leisurely. There is a widely dispersed variety of pitch pine in these mountains, which may be said to

IN SOUTHWESTERN CHIHUAHUA—DOWN THE URIQUE BARRANCA—FROM PINE TO PALM—URIQUE AND ITS MINES. A s this was to be a most important day our small party on the crest of one of the high sierras was astir earlier than usual. Our camp had been made in a little glen between two peaks, alongside one of the numerous clear, cold streams that wind in and about through all these mountains, and furnish the loveliest and most picturesque spots imaginable for camping. Francisco, my chief packer, a bright, good-na

SOUTHWESTERN CHIHUAHUA—DESCRIPTION OF ONE OF THE RICHEST SILVER REGIONS OF THE WORLD—MINERAL WEALTH OF THE SIERRA MADRES—THE BATOPILAS DISTRICT. A fter leaving Cerro Colorado, with its undeveloped possibilities, the trail leads southwestward through the broken barrancas toward Batopilas. This portion of the trail has been so improved by the energetic mine owners, and was so broad and smooth, that our mules could often take up a trot, which seemed doubly fast after our laborious plodding through

SOUTHWESTERN CHIHUAHUA—THE RETURN BY ANOTHER TRAIL—THE CAÑON OF THE CHURCHES—AMONG THE CLIFF DWELLERS. A fter bidding adieu to our hospitable host and the many friends at the great hacienda, we started quite late in the afternoon to ride about eight or nine miles up the Batopilas River to a station of the Batopilas Mining Company called the Potrero. On either side the Batopilas lifts its banks from four to five and even to six thousand feet above the river bed, making a wonderfully beautiful pan