El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-04-08
CAVALRY PROVES
WORTH IN CHASE
Desert and Mountain Hunt
For Villa Cavalry Arm is
indispensable.

Washington, D. c., April Some idea
of the difficulties which the American
expedition has been encountering in its
wor Of pursuing Pancho Villa is con-
veyed in a statement prepared by the
National Geographic society, with head
quarters in this city. 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 fel-
low bandits.
when it is recalled that even in an
ordinarily comfortable Pullman car the
alkali dust creeps in through invisible
cracks and gives the traveller the ap-
Dearance Of having been WORKING
around q threshing machine all DAY
long, il may well be imagined what
hardships soldiers must meet who nave
to travel on forced marches across sucn
a region. The shifting waves OF neat
which hover above the land create cur
ious mirages. Although the distance
between FL PasO and Casas Grandes Is
only $50 miles Casas Grandes is APP
prOximately one mile higher than III
Paso.
''The desert region OF Chihuahua pos
sesses a vegetation nearly every species
of which is supplied with thorns OF
spines. There is an almost endless va
riety OF cacti ranging from tiny plants
no larger than a finger to the giant
pithahaya, pushing its tall stem to
height of 80 feet. Then there are the
mesquite. the tornillo. the agaves ana
the yuccas, all armed with spikes as II
to repel invasion.
Cavalry Indispensable
Under conditions like these the cav
airy arm of our military service -
practically Indispensable; indeed IL is
about the only kind of military force
that can be used to advantage NO oth5
er part of the American army has mad
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 thrust
/ their cavalry when emergencies come.
Reptiles Abound in Desert.
"a great variety Of insects and rep
tiles. including lizards, horned toads,
tarantulas and rattlesnakes, abound in
the desert. Conspicuous among the
birds OF the region is the ehaparral
cock which attacks and eats rattle
snakes with unbridled gustO. me des-
I ert has its own remedy for snake bites.
/ tt is a plant called the sneeze-Wort.
/ The juice Of its leaves contains a strong
alSalOid, which serves as an antidote
| for snake poison. Snakes have bitter
/ dislike for it, and it is a trick Of the
Indians to iritate them into biting il,
( with the result that they quickly die IN
Convulsons.
/ 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" Usu-
ally they weigh from one to three
pounds, and are often no larger than
I q large rat. Before the tourist tide set
/ into Mexico these dogs could be bought
! for So each. Now they often sell for
/ hundreds Of dollars. Many an Amert-
/ can traveller has bought a tiny canine
I alleged to be a Chihuahua dog only to
/ have il afterwards develop into a large
and lusty cur.
Indians OF the Sierra Madras.
"When one gets out OF the desert re-
: gion Of Chihuahua and into the Sierra
/ Madre mountains there Is found a win
I ter that is like May or October IN New
( England and a summer that is delight
/ full Game i'm these mountains is pleu-
tiful IN the northern Sierra Madre
/ live the Tarahumare Indians, perhaps
: the best examples Of physical perfec-
tion in the world. Both men and wom-
en- are splendid runners, and their en-
! durance is phenomenal A healthy Ia
/ rahumare will easily run 10 miles at
I a stretch. When sent out as a messen-
I ger he goes along at a slow trot, run
B. ming steadily and constantly. A man
t has been known to carry a letter 500
miles in five days.
"The. Tarahumares kill rabbits with a
I species OF boomerang said to be a relic
OF the DAYS when they and their AUS
/ tralian kinsmen are believed to have
= crossed the Pacific ocean by a chain OF
/ islands supposed TO have linked at one
| time. Asia with America and Aus
/ tralia"