Photos by Shirley C. Hulse The company had, from Boquilla to the neighborhood of Santa Rosalia, a private railroad, and, owing to the conditions, it was impossible to restrict the riding of the people on this line. The Mexican peon rides on a railroad, should the opportunity offer, in much the same spirit that a six-year-old child rides in an elevator, and at times the company's traffic was seriously interfered with by the number of the passengers. CHARACTERISTIC SCENE IN THE MEXICAN STATE OF CHIHUAHUA, WHICH IS DIRECTLY SOUTH OF EL PASO, TEXAS Photo by Shirley C. Hulse THIS MEXICAN GIRL WAS FOR SEVERAL YEARS NURSE AND DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT AT BOQUILLA She attracted the doctor's attention by her interest in the affairs of the hospital, and, from an ignorant, untrained beginning, she came in time to take full charge of the doctor's work during his illness or absence. She has upon occasion successfully performed surgical operations, herself giving the anesthetic, with no help but that of a mozo. She was absolutely cold-blooded and unfeeling in her handling of patients, perhaps to their ultimate benefit, and she has been suspected of slyly working off personal grudges upon the persons of certain sufferers on the operating table. This was, however, merely in a spirit of mischief and consisted only in getting an occasional harmless yelp and wriggle from the victim. In common with many of the Mexicans, she was exceedingly clever with her pencil, and she copied from American fashion-plates and made for herself clothes which would have done her credit on Fifth avenue itself. Also, she was the personification of meekness and industry, and it is to be hoped that she is a fair illustration of Mexican possibilities, granted the opportunity to learn and to advance 584 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE wheels revolving at right angles to the direction of the walk. The posts are set at one end of the walk, with the axle of one of the wheels in each post projecting through in the direction of the walk, so that a wisp of the fiber may be attached to it. By means of a string passed over the wheels a boy keeps them in rapid revolution, while the spinner, carrying a bundle of fiber suspended at his waist, backs away toward the other end of the walk, feeding out the fiber slowly to form the rope yarn, a hundred feet or more in length. These yarns may then be twisted into ropes or fed into a rude wooden loom, operated by foot power, and woven into matting. There grows extensively over the tableland a small desert tree, less than 4 feet in height, with silvery, grayish leaves. It grows often as the dominant plant over considerable areas of the calcareous foothills, where it gives an aspect to the vegetation similar to that of the sage-brush areas of our western plains. This plant is widely known as the guayule, and its product, a kind of rubber, has been an item of large commercial interest in central Mexico during the last decade. Although it was known long ago that the plant produced rubber, its profitable extraction has been a matter of only recent years, and now on many of the haciendas the cutting of guayule is a thriving and remunerative business. The plant is generally uprooted, regardless of conservation principles, bound into bales, and shipped to factories in the cities. About 10 per cent of the dry weight of the tree is gum, which is separated from the tissue by grinding and extraction by solvents or by mechanical agencies. THE DAYS OF THE HACIENDA ARE Various other activities of greater or less magnitude and importance are features of the hacienda life, much as they have been since the first settlement of the country. Where the railroads have penetrated and foreign capital has entered, they feel to some extent the influence of the world's progress and the march of events. At the best, however, they are isolated and provincial, living in the distant past, preferring old customs, manners, and dress, and tenacious of indolent habits, the rich and the poor alike. The days of the old haciendas are numbered. Such institutions cannot long resist the pressure of the times. Capital is insistent for opportunity where there is profitable investment. Colonization enterprises in different parts of the country have already secured large areas and divided them into small tracts. Revolutions can only temporarily delay such develop ment. The best leaders of the Mexican people are realizing that one of the great needs of the nation is the free use of the land and the building of homes. Whatever the outcome of the present strife, there awaits a period of reconstruction in which the disposition of the hacienda must have a large share. Mr. Robert E. Coker's article, “Wealth of a Rainless Coast," noted on pages 514 and 515, was originally scheduled for this month's issue, and the pictures given to the engraver some months ago, to be printed with the bird series in colors. In view of the great demand for information about Mexico, it has been deemed expedient to temporarily withhold Mr. Coker's interesting article to admit the Mexican material. |