some little spot of grass spared here and there, and progress becomes
almost an impossibility.

Immediately upon our arrival I went to see the gobernador, and,
strange to say, I found him engaged in teaching his young wife how
to weave. Three months ago his first wife had died of smallpox. Old
bachelors and widowers have a hard time in getting wives, because
the Tarahumare belles have a decided preference for young men. But
the wifeless Indian feels very unhappy, as it means that he has to
do all the woman's housework, which is very laborious, and therefore
thoroughly distasteful to him. By way of fascinating this young girl,
the gobernador had to exert himself to the extent of teaching her
how to make girdles and wearing apparel.

The next day this gentleman returned my call, carrying his bow
and arrows. I had already learned in Batopilas that the party of
Indians who, about two years ago, had been exhibited by a now deceased
traveller as representative cave-dwellers, had been gathered mainly in
the neighbourhood of Yoquibo. My visitor had been one of the troupe,
and I was eager to find out what impression the civilised world had
made on this child of nature, who had never known anything but his
woods and his mountains. Therefore, almost my first question was,
"How did you like Chicago?" "It looks very much like here," was the
unexpected reply. What most impressed him, it seemed, was neither the
size of the city nor its sky-scrapers, though he remembered these,
but the big water near which those people dwelt. He had liked riding
in the railroad cars, but complained that he had not had enough to
eat on the journey.

His experience on the trip had familiarised him with the white man
and his queer, incomprehensible ways, and made him something of a
philosopher. I wanted him to accompany me on my visits to the few
houses here, as the people were very shy and timid. Although he was
very much engaged, as I could see, having to look after his animals
as well as his wife, he obligingly went with me to two houses. We
saw a woman with twins; one of them a miserable-looking specimen,
suffering from lack of food.

There were also some cave-dwellings near Yoquibo, one or two of
which were occupied. In the afternoon, when I went out alone, the
people all disappeared the moment they saw me approaching, except one
group of strangers who had come to beg and did not pay any attention
to me. They were too busily engaged in making