ded territory
conquered and desolated by the Indians. Even beyond these, into the
"provincias internas," have the bold copper-coloured freebooters of late
carried their forays--even to the very gates of Durango. Two hundred
Comanche warriors, or as many Apaches, fear not to ride hundreds of
miles into the heart of civilised Mexico--hesitate not to attack a city
or a settlement--scruple not to drag from hearth and home lovely maids
and tender children--_only_ these--and carry them slave and captive to
their wild fastnesses in the desert! And this is no occasional foray,
no long gathering outburst of revenge or retaliation; but an _annual_
expedition, forming part of the regular routine of the year, and
occurring at the season when the buffalo have migrated to the north--
occurring in that month in the calendar of these aboriginal brigands
jocosely styled the "Mexican moon!"

Upon whose head falls the blow thus periodically repeated? Upon the
poor and unprotected? No doubt you will fancy so.

A single fact may serve to undeceive you. Only a few years ago, Trias,
a man of "first family" in Mexico and governor of the large state of
Chihuahua, lost one of his sons by an Indian foray. The boy was taken
prisoner by the Comanches; and it was only after years of negotiation
and payment of a large sum, that the father recovered his child. Thus
the governor of a province, with means and military at his command, was
not powerful enough to cause the surrender of his captive son: he was
forced to _buy_ him!

It is computed that at this moment there are three thousand white
captives in the hands of the North Mexican Indians--nearly all of them
of Spanish descent. They are mostly females, and live as the
slave-wives of their captors--if such connexion may be dignified by the
name. There are white men, too, among the Indians--prisoners taken in
their youth; and strange as it may appear, few of them--either of the
men or women--evince any desire to return to their former life or homes.
Some, when ransomed, have refused the boon. Not uncommon along the
frontier has been witnessed that heart-rending scene--a father who had
recovered his child from the savages, and yet unable to reclaim its
affection, or even to arouse it to a recognition of its parentage. In a
few years--sometimes only months--the captives forget their early ties,
and become wedded to their new life--become _Indianised_!

But a short time before, an instanc