be efficacious in allaying
fever. The Indians prize it highly, and the Mexicans also buy it.

Just a few miles before reaching Guachochic, one passes the pueblo of
Tonachic, from whence the Indians have been more or less driven off
by the whites. In missionary times the village appears to have been
of some importance, to judge from the church, which is quite pretty,
considering its location in the middle of the sierra. In the sacristy
I saw lying about three empty cases, but the silver crucifixes
and chalices they once contained had been carried off by Mexican
thieves. The man in charge of the building showed me three immense
drawers full of gold- and silver-embroidered silken robes of exquisite
fineness and great variety. There were at least several dozens of them.

The altar-piece was arranged and painted very tastefully in red and
gold. Several oil paintings were hanging in the church, but so darkened
by the hand of time that it was impossible to make out whether they
were of any artistic merit. Wonderful men those early missionaries,
who brought such valuables into this wilderness, over hundreds and
thousands of miles, on the backs of mules or Indians. It was rather
anomalous to see the poor, naked Indians outside the door, for whose
benefit all this had been done. A woman was sweeping away the dirt
from the swarms of bats that nested in the ceiling.

The richest and most prominent man in the village enjoyed the
reputation of being a great ladron. When I called on him I found
him in bed suffering from a tooth-ache. He had his head wrapped up
and was completely unnerved, and many people came to sympathise with
him in his affliction. When I told him that I liked the Tarahumares,
he answered, "Well, take them with you, every one of them." All he
cared for was their land, and he had already acquired a considerable
portion of it. His wife was the only person in the village who knew
how to recite the prayers in the church. This made the husband feel
proud of her, and he evidently considered her piety great enough to
suffice for the family.

On my return to Guachochic I discharged the Mexicans who had been
with me since my travels through Sonora; they were here of little
use to me, as they did not know the country. I also disposed of the
greater number of my mules, keeping only about half a dozen.

With the kind permission of Don Miguel I installed most of my baggage
in one of his houses, and considered his ranch a ki