hange in the flora of the precipitous inclines toward
the west. The air was filled with perfume, and it was lovely to be
on these high, sunny tops. Foliage trees, especially alders, began
to appear among the pines, basking in the dazzling sunshine. I also
noticed some fine ferns spreading out their graceful fronds.

A few miles farther and much lower I made camp above the Indian pueblo
of San Pedro, as far as I could make out the most eastern extension
of the northern Aztecs (Mexicanos or Mexicaneros, as they are called
here). From here southward I found them in many of the warm valleys
of the Sierra intermingled with Tepehuanes and Coras.

There is an excellent road zigzagging down to the mining place of
Ventanas ("Windows," from the formation of a rock) for the greater
part of the distance; but at the outset the way, at two places, is
so narrow that parties coming from opposite directions could neither
pass nor turn back, which is not pleasant with a yawning chasm of a
couple of thousand feet so close at hand.

I was anxious to secure men to go up again into the sierra and farther
south; but the people were afraid of the cold, and nobody seemed to
know anything about the country except the postmaster, and he only in
a vague way. Mazatlan is not much more than 100 miles off and Durango
125 miles. There are here a great many dykes of porphyry of different
ages, but neither slate nor granite in the immediate vicinity, though
there is some granite farther up the river.

Among the mine-owners who lived in Ventanas I was surprised to find
a Swedish gentleman. They all received me hospitably, providing me
also with two men, whom I badly needed. We had to ascend on the other
side of the barranca as high as we had been north of this place,
and for a day we travelled through snow and rain. Corn does not grow
here. From one point the Pacific Ocean can be seen. We then descended
again a couple of thousand feet to the village of Chavaria, which
is the only Mexican village I have seen where the houses had gable
roofs covered with shingles. The walls of the houses were adobe, but
I was told that the earth at this place is not suitable for making
the usual flat roofs.

While camping here I saw, on the 15th of February, a flock of six giant
woodpeckers pass by in the morning. Except in the pairing season these
birds are not seen in such numbers. The journey over a high part of
the Sierra Madre to the Mexican village of Pueblo Nue