Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-07-07
Land of the Living CnT-DweIiers.

a deep ravine cuttinc in at rioht
angles to the Bacochic Gn Cbibuab1a
MeXico) closed our way to tha nortb
as we assembled the windinr trail and
when we had worked our way nm the
steep bank some 200 or 800 feet = fav1
Orable exit from the low. scruhbv
pines gave me an opportunity to look
straight across this picturesque ravine,
@Ud | was surprised to see, on the
other bank, which seemed even more
scipitous than the one on which |
cd, deep cave walled up in front
early to the top, and evidently indi-
eating cave or Citf-dWellerS. Nv first
thought was that the curious habita-
ton in front of me belonged to the era.
OF similar buildings in Arizona and
New Mexico, which the best authority
Jonsigns to very old period. With
me, however, was a Mexican gentle
man who said that the cave was inhab-
lted, but as the occupants were ex-
tremely timid, probably we would not
be able to see them without forcing an
entrance into their strange home. He
believed that most of them were inside
peeping at us over the rude walls and
around the very dilapidated animals
hide that served to close the door.
The cave was not over two b. llred
yards away, and, with the ait If our
feld-glasses, we could plainly make
out its details.
My impressions led me to the theory
that these were vagabond individuals
OF the local Indian tribes who were
occupying this old cave-dwelling in
the cliffs. much as we see the CORES
pOndiug class with us occasionally Oc-
cupying dugOuts, shanties built into
the side-hills, and even caves around
the suburbs of towns. But one of the
MeXicans, who argued against forcible
intrusion into the homes of these
people, said that we would find a GREAT
number of them further on in the deep
recesSeS of the Sierra Madre rance.
and that among so many we would
have good opportunities of seeing them
to better advantage than we possibly
could here. My Mexican friend was
born and reared in this part of Chihu-
ahua; his father and uncle owned one
of the largest and richest mining dis
trictS in that portion of the Sierra
Madre toward which our course was
AiACNbC'l, tliIu W ICdCn WHICH ne
attached himself to our party for a
couple of days, when our paths sepa-
rated. His business called for almost
constant travelling in these parts. He.
placed the number of cliff and cave
lWellers in this part of Mexico at from
)J) to 1900 persons. We afterward
saw from 80 to 800 of them, which,
considering their great timiditv and
the small part of their land traversed
by US would give an air of reasonable
ness to the estimate of Don AugUstin
Becerra, for such was my friG. is
name.
Even as we stood on the edge of the
cliff opposite this singular home, we
saw an Indian in the canon far below.
He ppeared to be wearing only a
bre-.h-clout of animal skins; he car
ried a long bow and arrows. He looked
almost as dark as a Guinea negro as
he skirted the shadows of the canon,
and his hair was long. A rafting of
the falling chips Of shale drew his at
tention to US, when he at once skulked
behind a big boulder at the base of the
cliff, and we saw him no more.-Fred-
erjCG ScJj1OatGa, tn the Ce11turY