The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-04-13

HAVE HARD TIME
Expedition After Villa Must Overcome
Difficulties in Hostile Land

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 pur-
suing Pancho Villa is conveyed in a
statement prepared by the National
Geographic society, with headquarters
in Washington, d. c.. and Just given
to the press today. This statement
is as follows
Anyone who has travelled over the
highlands of Mexico cannot help feel
ing very deep sympathy for the men
who have been entrusted with the work
of capturing Pancho Villa and his fell
low bandits
when it is recalled that even in an
ordinarily comfortable Pullman car
the alllali dust creeps in through in
visible cracks and gives the traveller
| the appearance of having been working
around a threshing machine all day
long, it may well be imagined what
hardships soldiers must meet who have
to travel on forced marches across
such a region. The shifting waves of
heat which hover above the land create
curious mirages. Alth ugh the dis
lance between Ell Paso ard Casa
Grandes is only $50 miles, Casa
Grandes is approximately one mile
| higher than Ell Paso.
The desert region of Chihuahua
| possesses d vegetation nearly every
| species of which is supplied with
thorns or spines. There is an almost
| endless variety of cacti, ranging from
| tiny plants no larger than finger to
the giant pitahaya pushing its tall stem
to height of so feet, Then there are
the mesquits, the tornilla, the agayes,
and the yuccas, all armed with spikes
as if to repel invasion.
Under conditions like these the cav.
airy arm of our military service is
practically indispensable; indeed it is
about the only kind Of military force
| that can be 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 will always trust
their cavalry when emergencies come
| "a great variety of insects and rep
tiles, including lizards, horned toads
tarantulas and rattlesnakes, abound
in the desert Conspicuous among the
1 binds nf hn 10 he Glf M a
| cock which attacks and eats rattle
snakes with unbridled gusto. The des
| ert has its own remedy for snake bites
\ 1t is a plant called the sneeZewort
! The juice of its leaves contains a
| strong alkaIoid, which serves as an
antidote for snakes poison. Snakes
have bitter dislike of it, and it is q
| trick Of the Indians to irritate them in
| to biting it, with the result that they
| quickly die of COMMISSIONS.
"One of the interesting products Of
this region is the Chihuahua dog
which resembles the sleeve dog OF
China and the chin koro dog OF Japan
They are sometimes called butterfly
dogs Usually they weigh from nine tc
three pounds, and are often no larger
than large rat. Before the tourist
tide set into Mexico these dogs coult
be bought for IS each. Now they of
ten sell for hundreds and even thous
ands of dollars Many an American
traveller has brought tiny canine al
legged to be a Chihuahua dog only t.
have it afterwards develop into a large
and lusty cur.
when one gets out of the desert re
gion of Chihuahua and into the Sierra
Madre mountains there is found a win
ter that is like May or October in New
England and summer that is delight
full. Game in these mountains is plen
tiful In the northern Sierra Madr,
live the Tarahumare Indians perhaps
the best examples of physical perfec
ton in the world Both men and VIC
men are splendid runners and their en-
durance is phenomenal. A health.
Tarahumare will easily run 40 mile
at stretch. When sent out as a mes
senger he goes along at slow trot
running steadily and constantly
man has been known TO carry a lette
600 miles in five days. While eXecut
ing these feats of endurance tn
Indians live on pinole, which is dis
made of corn and water.
"The Tarahumares kill rabbits wit
a pecies of boomerang said to be
relic OF the days when they and thei
Australian kinsmen are believed t
have crossed the Pacific ocean by
chain of islands supposed to hay
linked, at one time, Asia with Amer
ca and Australia
--
The Modern Brand.