onsiderable intercourse
with Acaponeta, and who also go some distance to work in the mines
of Sinaloa, speak Spanish quite well. Indeed, of the three languages
spoken here, Spanish is the one most generally heard. Several Nahuatlan
words have been forgotten, and in making out my list of collections I
had great difficulty in getting designations for some of the objects,
for instance the word for "quiver," and for the curious rattling
anklets used by dancers. Only elderly people speak Nahuatl correctly,
and the Tepehuane influence is strong here, even in the ancient
religion of the people. It was curious to note that many people here,
as in Lajas, eat neither hens nor sheep, while they freely partake
of beef.

People here are more intelligent and much less reticent than in
Lajas. Women when addressed will answer you, while in Lajas the
inhabitants are guarded, and suspicious even of other Indians,
not to speak of "neighbours." Another difference is that very few
drink mescal.

At a meeting I had with the Indians, I remarked, in my desire to please
them, that the Mexican Government was interested to know whether
they were getting on well or whether they were coming to an end. To
this the principal speaker at once laughingly rejoined. "Of course,
they want to know how soon they can 'finish' us!"

The Indians here have the usual trouble from "neighbours" trying to
encroach upon their territory. Once a delegation from this and the
neighbouring pueblos undertook a journey to the City of Mexico in order
to settle the troubles about their land. They stopped eleven days in
the capital and were well received by the Ministerio del Fomento;
but their money gave out before they finished their business, and
they had to walk all the way back without having accomplished anything.

I found these Indians law-abiding and obliging, and I had no great
difficulty in securing permission to be present at a mitote, which
was to be given at a ranch in the neighbourhood. On March 24th,
a little before sunset, we started out on a ride of an hour and a
half, ascending some 3,000 feet on a winding Indian trail up to a high
mesa. It was a starlit, beautiful night, but the magnificent view which
this mesa commanded could only be surmised. There are a few ranches
here owned by people from the pueblo below, a man sometimes living in
his ranch here during the wet season, while for the remainder of the
year he occupies one in the pueblo. As we entered