ke Spanish fairly well, and her eyes indicated unusual
intelligence. A white man had deserted her to marry a Mexican woman,
and she grieved much, but in time she became reconciled to her fate,
though she declared she would never marry again, as all men were bad.

The Tarahumares have made excellent soldiers in fighting for the
Government. In one of the civil wars, their leader, Jesus Larrea,
from Nonoava, a pure-bred Tarahumare, distinguished himself, not only
by bravery and determination, but also as a commander. In private
life he was civil and popular.

The majority speak their own language, and in the central and most
mountainous part, the heart of the Tarahumare country, they are of
pure breed. Here the women object to unions with outsiders, and until
very recently light-coloured children were not liked. Mothers may
even yet anoint their little ones and leave them in the sun, that
they may get dark. The consensus of opinion among the tribe is that
half-castes turn out to be bad people and "some day will be fighting
at the drinking-feasts." A few instances are known in which women
have left their half-caste babies in the woods to perish, and such
children are often given away to be adopted by the Mexicans. In the
border districts, however, the Indians have become much Mexicanised
and intermarry freely with the whites.

Be it said to the credit of those high in authority in Mexico, they
do all in their power to protect the Indians. But the Government
is practically powerless to control the scattered population in
the remote districts. Besides, the Indians most preyed upon by the
sharpers cannot make themselves understood in the official language,
and therefore consider it hopeless to approach the authorities. In
accordance with the liberal constitution of Mexico, all natives are
citizens, but the Indians do not know how to take advantage of their
rights, although sometimes large bodies have banded together and
travelled down to Chihuahua to make their complaints, and have always
been helped out--for the time being. The efforts of the Government
to enlighten the Indians by establishing schools are baffled by the
difficulty in finding honest and intelligent teachers with a knowledge
of the Indian language.

Where the Indians have had little or nothing to do with the whites,
they are obliging, law-abiding, and trustworthy. Profit is no
inducement to them, as they believe that their gods would be angry with
them for