The Monticellonian., 1917-01-25

and planters on this west coast is not ! unlike that of the colonials in India, China or the Philippines. Servants are numerous and cheap. Fruits and vegetables grow in abundance. No body hurries. Nervous breakdowns and worry" headaches are unheard- of
 Some of the American-owned mine and plantation homes are models of tropical comfort, spacious and elegant. Motoring, tennis, golf, pleasure launches and the west coasts incom- parable hunting grounds are enjoyed the year around.
 For shooting and fishing, the Guay- mas coast waters are unexcelled. Trolling for toro, skip-jacks. Spanish mackerel, yellowtail, Cabrillo, and oth- CT fighting fish affords unparalleled sport.
 Ducks? By the thousand For the west coast is right on one of the great wild fowl migration routes. Last March in the Yaqui valley, standing in flooded rice field, got % red heads" in less than an hour, working my 16-gauge as the evening flight came in.
 Here Is this worlds happy hunting ground for those who love the rod and gun. Some day-when it's charms are known to tourists-Guaymas must be- come q famed winter resort. balmy. healthful and healing, garden spot of sAft h1tta un1 i1na1 IOn- uary outdoor days.
 Singular Plant Life.
 Even in vegetation this is land of odd contrasts. Weird and sinister looking plants there are, like the strange creeping caetus' of the Mag dalena bay country. Lying fiat and oddly resembling giant caterpillars. this singular cactus grows forward and dies behind, thus actually travelling in the course of time considerable dis tanee. Mir E. w. Nelson of the United States department of agriculture said after exploring the north section of the west coast: Here is the most eX- traordinary desert flora in the world. The combinations of species were won derfHlly picturesque, giving the land- Scape an individuality unlike anything to be found elsewhere. Many of these strange scenes seemed fiji abiding places for the animal life of an earlier age"
 From such inhospitable wastes, the descent into the green, fragrant. Wa tered coastal plain is welcome change.
 Down this historic West coast from St. Xavier and Tucumcari in Arizona to Guadalajara. there stretches string of picturesque massive old ehurches-churches built by adventur- ous Jesuts, churches standing in loop hOled compounds for Indian defense. Inside eisterns stored water for use during sieges. The thrifty padres grew their own grain, vegetables and fruit using Indian labor. Near some of these ruined churches-built 300 years ago-traces of old irrigation works are plainly diseernible. As late as 1879, Apaches attacked the old church of San Ignacio. in Sonora its scared walls still show plainly where Indian bullets clipped angrily at the fervent defenders.
 The women and girls of Mexico are deeply religious. Five masses a day are celebrated in some of the larger churches, and often the music is ex- cellent. One bright moonlight night I sat in the palm-shaded plaza before the old cathedral of Magdalena; in- side woman soloist lifted voice strong, clear and wonderfully sweet such voice as must have given pause to even a Melba or Farrar, "undis- covered" though this woman was.