Wichita eagle., 1889-04-28


that no one can gainsay. Even the build
ings are desolate, woe-begone and God.
forsaken looking affairs as one approaches
them from the level tracts of land covered
with sage brush and mezquite, but nearer
inspection reveals an interior court sur
rounding the foreboding prison-like walls
of adobe, and here often blossom roses, grow
Towering shrubs, are seen neat white
washed walls with verandas and greer
shutters, pretty little paradise in glar.
ing contrast with the environment We
are so used to seeing nearly all the display
put on the outside in higher ATTITUDES thai
the complete reversal here takes US some
time to really appreciate and understand
and many never see at all. Verify, the des
olation Of the land is deceptive, ana, like
it's counterpart, beauty IS bat skin deep
We made our camp on the Sth at point
called a box canyon of the Boca Grande, in
the vernacular of the region. Wherever
a small river valley contracts into narrow
limits by the mesa-land impinging on the
valley from both sides it is called cd5on, OF
box canyon. To those who judge all West
ern canyons by the pictures they have seen
of the Grand Canyon Of the Colorado OF
those cutting through other parts of the
Rocky mountains-and l have found this
idea general in the East-I would say
that they are about as far of
in their conJectures as they would be in
comparing a king-bolt to Krupp gun.
just where a canyon begins and a valley
ends here it would be very hard to deter.
mine, while the ''box canyons" are often.
times but mere contractlons of the valley,
although, again, they may be where
,nh
forming pictures as pretty as any ever
transferred to canvas in the art galleries OF
our large cities.
The day had been so warm that one of my
hands exposed to the sun had been bis.
tered, while at night a buffalo robe and
two blankets over me were none too warm
for comfort We were now about fou1
thousand feet above the sea level, and when
a night wind came down off the snow-cov.
cred Sierra Madre's, almost twice as high
again above our own position, l dreamed
! was travelling in the Arctic again, the
barking Of the coyotes around camp was
easy enough to convert into the equivalent
noises of the Eskimo dogs, while the MUNICH.
ing of the mules at their corn was rot IN.
like the bounding of the sledge over the
frosty snow, and that now and then struck
a crevasse when mule saw fit to kick
neighbor for becoming too nelghborly. Even
the warmest days of summer are always
followed by cool nights on these high plateau
tracts Of Northwestern Chihuahua
Noon Of the 9th found US lunching at
Espia Hill, a pretty knob of earth covered
here and there with oquettAa cactus and
around which the Boca Grande wound its
serpentine course. La Espia' in Spaniel
means 1.-The spy" and here formerly the
multitudinous Mexican custom house of the
frontier kept some four officials to prevent
smuggling But Geronimo, the Apache
chief, a few years ago while raiding the
country for revenue only, made an excursion
here and collected poll tax of one scalp fol-
each Individual, since which time this an.
mex to the custom-house has been aban.
doned. From its summit no vehicle could
possibly enter the valley and escape detec-
ton, so only personal smuggling could be
done, and that was hardly worth the while
1t is sixty to ssixtyfive miles from Las
Palomas TO La Ascension, and not a settle.
ment nor sign of life except Jack rabbits
coyotes and custom house officers is to be
seen the whole length of this unusually
rich country, so effectually did the Apaches
enforce their restrictive tariff a few years
ago. In fact their chief, Geronimo, over.
worked himself and has been compelled to
go to Florida for his health Now there is
as great safety here as anywhere IN Mex.
leo or the United States, but my experience
OF nearly forty years on the frontier has
shown me that after district has been
once unsafe from Indians it takes from
two to four years of uninterrupted safety
to restore confidence sufficiently to induce
to enter the region and attempt
to build homes for themselves
AT rare intervals great haciendas are
found, the main industry of which is raising
cattle. On the 9th we passed herd of
about one thousand head, all in magnificent
and attended by some eight to ten
'dquer0s driving them to market. With the
usual Mexican politeness they took particu.
ar pains 10 give Us the road, and to do SO
hey drove the whole herd over high hill,
around the base of which the road led. The
hillside towards Us was a steep bluff, and
fully two hundred head were along the crest
1t once looking down on US with the wild,
lerce' glare Of animals as untamed as auy
from the wilderness, while the brightlv-col.
bred dresses of the pdq1tcros made IN a nict.
are | would like TO have seen on Canvas
Small cattle ranches are now putting ont
from the Little Pueblos often thirty to sixtv
miles apart, soon the valleys Will be SET.
led, railroad viii course through. tourists
viii visit it, Snd it will be written IN once a
week for the newspapers, instead of once 9
decade as now.
. FREDERICK ScHwATKA.
COLONEL A. G. MELlETTE,