Foreigners prefer to seek a country where they can purchase the
land cheaply, and, when they have improved it, be certain that their
title is good and secure. At present there is virtually no immigration
at all into the republic, though the climate in many places is perhaps
the most desirable known to man. The Mexican government not long since
made an effort to encourage immigration, offering a bonus of fifty
dollars a head for _bona fide_ immigrants, and even partial support
until occupation was secured. Many Italians availed themselves of this
offer; but it was found that the criminal class was too largely
represented in the ranks of these immigrants, and other abuses became so
manifest that the government abandoned the purpose.

In passing through the country, one wearies of the long reaches of
brown, arid soil which would seem to be beyond the redeeming power even
of irrigation. Occasionally the scene is varied by a few yucca palms
dotting the prairies at long intervals. Now and again a small herd of
antelope dashed away from our neighborhood, and an occasional flock of
wild turkeys were flushed from the low-growing bushes. These were
exciting moments for one member of our party, who is a keen sportsman.
At long distances from each other small groups of the pear-cactus, full
of deep yellow bloom, lighted up the barren waste. Here and there a
simple wooden cross indicated a grave, the burial place of some lone
traveler who had been murdered and robbed by banditti, and over whose
body a Christian hand had reared this unpretentious emblem. As we got
further and further southward, the graceful pepper tree, with myriads of
red fruit, began to appear, and afterwards became a prominent feature of
the scenery.

Saltillo, which lies some seventy miles to the eastward of Jaral, is now
the capital of the State of Coahuila. Before the separation of Texas
from Mexico it was the capital of that State. It is situated five
thousand feet above the sea level, on the northeastern edge of the
table-land already spoken of, and has a population of about eighteen
thousand. The table-land, as it is termed, declines more or less
abruptly on the east towards the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west towards
the Pacific Ocean. Saltillo is a manufacturing town, built almost wholly
of sun-dried bricks, and is noted for the production of rebosas and
serapes. The people living south of this region and on the lower lands
make of Saltillo a summer reso