he idea of descending into it,
and the Indians told them that only the birds knew how deep it was. The
traveller as he stands at the edge of such gaps wonders whether it
is possible to get across them. They can in a few places be crossed,
even with animals if these are lightly loaded, but it is a task hard
upon flesh and blood.

It was in these barrancas, that I was to find the gentile (pagan)
Indians I was so anxious to meet. From where I stood looking at it
the country seemed forgotten, lonely, untouched by human hand. Shrubs
and trees were clinging to the rocky brows of the barrancas, and
vegetation, could be seen wherever there was sufficient earth on the
mountain and the sides of the ravines; but, on the whole, the country
looked rather barren and lifeless.

Still, it did not take us long to find traces of human beings. Our
tents were pitched on an old trinchera. Cut deep into a rough ledge
not far off was the rough carving of a serpent, sixty feet long, that
must have been left here by a race antecedent to the Tarahumares. And
a little further off we came upon the ruins of a modern Tarahumare
house. It seems as if the Indians must extract a living out of the
rocks and stones; though when we got down into the barranca and into
the ravines we came upon patches of land that could be cultivated; and
there were some small areas of pasture, although extremely precipitous.

The first thing to do was to despatch the guide into the valleys
and gorges below, which from our camping place could not be seen,
only surmised, that he might persuade some Tarahumares to act as
carriers on an excursion I contemplated making through the region. In
a couple of days a party was made up, consisting, besides myself, of
Mr. Taylor, the guide, two Mexicans, and five Tarahumares with their
gobernador. Bundles weighing from forty to seventy-five pounds were
placed on the backs of the Indians and the Mexicans; even the guide
took a small pack, though it would have been beneath the dignity
of the gobernador to take a load upon himself. But his company was
valuable on account of his great influence with his people.

It was an exceedingly interesting excursion of several days'
duration. Owing to the presence of the gobernador the Indians received
us well. Nobody ran away, though all were extremely shy and bashful,
and the women turned their backs towards us. But after a while they
would offer us beans from a pot cooking over the fire. They s