nly to the north of this place,
has an extent of about fifteen miles from north to south, and from
three to four miles from east to west.

Fossils picked up by Mr. Meeds in the cutting of a creek near Yepomera
consisted of some fragmentary teeth and pieces of bones from some
small animal. They were found in the hard clay that underlies the
lime-stone. Large fossil bones also are said to have been gathered
near the town of Guerrero, Chihuahua, quite recently. It seems to
be a custom with the common people to make a concoction of these
"giants' bones" as a strengthening medicine; we heard of a woman who,
being weak after childbirth, used it as an invigorating tonic.

Here in Temosachic we were joined by Mr. Hartman, who had brought
part of our baggage from San Diego by wagon in order to enable us to
travel as unencumbered as possible.

From now on, until as far as the southern border of the State of
Chihuahua, the country is occupied by the large Indian tribe of the
Tarahumares. They are now confined to the Sierra Madre, but in former
times they also occupied the entire plain of Chihuahua, as far west
as the present capital of that State, and in a narrow strip they may
have reached as far as 100 miles north of Temosachic. They were the
main tribe found in possession of the vast country which is now the
State of Chihuahua, and although there are still some 25,000 left,
the greater part of them have become Mexicanised, adopting the
language and the customs of the whites, together with their dress
and religion. Father Ribas, in the seventeenth century, speaks of
them as very docile and easily converted to Christianity.

The high plateau of the Sierra Madre for a couple of hundred miles
southward is not difficult to follow. Most of it is hilly and clad in
oaks and pines; but there are also extensive tracts of fine arable
land, partly under cultivation, and fairly good tracks connect the
solitary villages and ranches scattered over the district. The country
of the aborigines has been invaded and most of the descendants of
the former sovereigns of the realm have been reduced to earning a
precarious living by working for the white and mixed-breed usurpers
on their ranches or in their mines. The native language, religious
customs, and dress are being modified gradually in accordance with the
new regime. Only in the less desirable localities have the Tarahumares
been able to hold their own against the conquerors.

There is n