ion of the population speak English; the faces of the common
people evince more intelligence; and the masses are better clothed than
they are a little further south. We found that free schools were
established and other matters of higher civilization were in progress.
Many of the customs prevailing north of the national boundary line have
been adopted here. The universal burro of Mexico begins to disappear,
and strong, shapely mules and large horses take his place. Beggars are
few and far between.

There is very little of interest to engage the traveler's attention on
the route of the Mexican Central Railroad between Chihuahua and Juarez,
formerly known as Paso del Norte. The country is quite sterile, varied
by occasional long, tedious reaches of cactus and mesquite bushes, or a
few cottonwood-trees wherever a water-course is found. The mesquite
grows to the height of ten or twelve feet. The seeds are contained in a
small pod, and are used by the natives to make a sort of bread which is
sweet to the taste. The wood is extremely hard and heavy. At long
distances apart a native village comes into view, composed of low,
square, adobe cabins. The treeless character of this section of country
is not without a depressing influence, while the want of water is only
too manifest everywhere. Sometimes one sees for hours a fairly good
grazing country, and, where water is available, some cereals are raised.
Corn, wheat, and barley occasionally form broad expanses of delightful
green. Still, only the most primitive means of agriculture are in use,
reminding the observer of the unfulfilled possibilities of the really
capable soil. Where these fertile districts are seen, the results are
brought about by the same irrigating ditches that the aborigines used
more than three hundred years ago. The touch of moisture is like the
enchanter's wand. In California, water is conveyed thirty, forty, and
even fifty miles, by means of ditch and flume; here the sources of
supply are not usually half the first-named distance away. Grapes are
grown, as at Chihuahua, in great abundance, the soil seeming to be
particularly adapted to their cultivation. Many tons of the big purple
fruit are regularly converted into wines of different brands, said to be
fully equal to the product of California.

As the sea has its water-spouts, so the land has its sand-spouts,
whereby the whirlwinds, forming on and sweeping over the barren plains,
gather up the soil and