Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-04-13
HAVE HARD TIME.
Expedition After villa Must Overcome
Difficulties in Hostile Land

Some idea of the difficulties which the
American punitive expedition has been
encountering in its work of pursuing
Rancho Villa is conveyed in 2 statement
prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, with headquarters in Washington,
ID. C., and just given To the press today.
This statement is as follows:
anyone who has travelled over the
highlands of Mexico cannot help feeling
a very deep sympathy for the men who
have been entrusted with the work of
capturing Pancho Villa and his fellow
bandits.
when It is recalled that even in an
ordinarily comfortable Pullman car tho
alkali dust creeps in through invisible
cracks and gives the traveller the appear
ance of having been working around a
threshing machine all day long. IT may
we'll he imagined what hardships soldiers
must meet who have to travel on forced
marches across such a region. The shift
ing waves of heat which hover above the
land create curious miraEes. Although
the distance between FL paso and casa
Grandes is only 10 miles. Casa Grandes
is approximately one mile higher than
al Paso.
THE desert region of Chihuahua pos
seseS vegetation nearly every species
of which is supplied with thorns or spines.
There is an almost endless variety oe
cacti, ranging from tiny plants no larger
than finger to the giant pitahaya.
pushing it's tall stem to a height of 80
feet. Then there are the mesquits, the
tornilla, the agaves and the yuccas all
armed with spikes az if to repel inva sion.
Under conditions like these the cavalry
| arm Of our military service is practically
Indispensable: indeed it is about the only
kind of military force that can he used
to advantage. No other part of the
American army has had SO much work to
do in the past as the cavalry, and the
present expedition proves that in spite
of all that the war in Europe may seem
to have taught, the American people win
always trust their cavalry when emer-
genCies come.
"A great variety of insects and reptiles.
including lizards. horned toads, tarantulas
and rattlesnakes, abound in the desert.
Conspicuous among the birds Of the re-
gion is the chaparral cock which attacks
and eats rattleSnakes with Unhrided gus
to. The desert has its own remedy for
snake bites. 1t is a plant called the
sneeZe-wort The juice of It's leaves con-
ains a strong alkaloid. which serves az
an antdote for snake poison. Snakes
have bitter dislike of it, and 1t is n
trick of the Indians to irritate them into
biting it, with the result that they quickly
die in commissions.
"One of the interesting products Of this
region is the Chihuahua dog. which re-
sembles the sleeve dog Of China and the
chin koro dog of Japan. They are some
times called 'butterfly dogs Usually
they weigh from one to three pounds.
and are often no larger than a large rat.
Before the tourist tide set into Mexico these
dogs could be bought for S. each. Now
they often sell for hundreds and eve,.
thousands of dollars. Many an American
traveller has brought a tiny canine al
legged to ba a Chihuahua dog only to have
It afterwards develop into a large ard
lusty cur.
when one gets out of the desert re-
gion of Chihuahua and into the Sierra
Madro mountains there is found win
ter that is like May or october in New
England and a summer that is delightful.
Game in these mountains is plentiful.
In the northern Sierra Madre live the
rarahumare Indians, perhaps the best
examples of physical perfection in tho
world Both men and women are splen-
did runners, and their endurance is phe-
nomenal A healthy Tarahumare will
easily run no miles at a stretch When
sent out as a messenger he goes along at
a slow trot, running steadily and con-
stantly, a man has been known to carry
a letter GOO miles In five days, While
executing these feats of endurance the
Indians live on pnole. which is a dish
made of corn and water.
IA n m a