SONORA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2490, 4 December 1901, Page 70

SONORA.

(By Grkxvillk Hooja.y

Boundpd on the north by the gray alkali deserts of Arizona, on the west by the blue isle-studded Gulf of California, on' the south by the dense tangled jungles oi Sinaloa, and on the east by the towering highlands of Chihuahua, lies the state of Sonora, which, although, forming only about a tenth pai't of Mexico, contains very nearly the same number of square miles 'as England and Scotland together. A woefully scant population, rather less than that of the county of Fife, is scattered up and dewn this vast ait a.

Here and there — the "here"" may be manyleagues distant from the "there" — an oasis of semi-cultivated land, raggedly beautiful with loaded orange trees and patches of cane brake, springs up in startling contrast to the surrounding desert, where only the many -armed cactus the warlike Spanish bayonet, and the mague}^ flourish. The giant cactus often arises 1 in its hairy monstrosity to a height of fully 15ft, presenting with its multiple branches an appearance rot unlike a grotesque vegetable candelabrum.

Many people at first sight mistake the beautiful flowers of the spiky Spanish bayonet foi tuba roses, which they closely "resemble both in colour, shape, odour, and size. In California the tall stalk shooting from the centre of the bristling bayonets often bears as many as 2000 of these exquisite flowers ; but in Sonora one seldom finds a flowering specimen. The maguey — pronounced "ma-way" — is perhaps better known under the name of the century plant. Popular opinion has it that thi? genus of aloe floweri only once in 100 years; but popular opinion in this case, as in many others, is seriously at fault, for the maguey brings forth its blossom at least every six years. On the east coast and in the central provinces of Mexico a drink called pulque is made from the sap of the maguey, eucb plant in its flowering s-eason yielding, roughly, about r gallon of sap a day. The sap undergoes a process of quick fermentation, and is then ready for sale as pulque, a viscous, whitish "liquor, more stupefying than intoxicating in its effects. On the west coast, however, the Mexicans barely even know the name of pulque. Not that the west coa^t people are teetotally inclined; on the "contrary, they manage to extract from the maguey a much more injurious beverage than pulque, known as mescal. To quott one of the sages of America, this latter liquor is "like Scotch whisky, seven times heated, with the addition of a hot chilli, a libeial dash of fusel oil, and a small piece of scrapiron flavouring." But mescal is really comparatively mild to either tizu in or teguila, which are also products of the prolific maguey.

If the orange growing, cane-raising, ai\rl cattle-rearing are but poorly cultivated businesses in Sonora, the same cannot be alleged of the great, mineral industry. A casual inspector of the land would not be inclined to give even so little as a cent a continent for it ; but nevertheless it is said to be striped as thickly as a zebra with o^t-belß Whether or not this is the case only t:-.» nnd the promotion ->f many companies ..ill prove; but in the meantime scores of small camps already exist, which appear to work at a profit in spite of the archaic simplicity of the methods in u<e. A notable feature in these smaller mines is the noffch-ladder system of conveying the ore from the interior to the pit-head. Two masts, notched like bear-poles, form the means of ascent and descent for o more or legg negtinuoug chain of ftepas. Eacu

man in ascending bears upon his head a ■ sack laden with as much a.s 1001b of ore, which he deposits with the foieman before descending again by the other pole into the depths. The system resembles that of a dock-dredger with its endless belt of buckets; but, though incredibly efficient, the expense of human buckets, even in a land of cheap labour, ih a serious item. The labour is not, indeed, so very cheap. The pay of a water-boy, who brings water for the men to drink, is two or three shillings. An unskilled peon gets 3s or 4s, ■VAhile a Mexican carpenter or mechanic earns 10s a day. Among Europeans and Americans employed about the mines it is rare to find any one getting less than 16s ; even so humble an individual as an oiler of machinery nets 18s. However, these wages, both for whites and Mexicans, are confined to Sonora ; in other parts of Mexico more normal economic conditions prevail. Sonora is really a place apart and quite cut off from the rest of the republic. To make the journey from Sonoia by rail to the city of Mexico one actually requiies to return to the United States and make a weary journey through Arizona and New Mexico to El Paso in Texas, whence the Mexican Central railway runs ! down to the capital. There are at least seven distinct tribes - of Indians in the State, but of these only the Yaquis come mto work in the camps. '. The Yaquis are men of fine endurance ;

though coppery in colour, their peculiar cast of features gives them a strong resemblance to the Japanese. They are excellent workers, a Yaqui being considered to be equal in labour to at least two Mexicans It therefore seems ridiculous that a Mexican peon should esteem it a most deadly

insult to be mistaken for one of his Indian compatriots, even although President Porfirio Diaz is himself a full-blooded Indian.

Horses, mules, and burros are very cheap. The hoises, are of thtit small, bony bretd

familiar in the Transvaal ; but the mules are generally much more stoutly-built animals. A good horse or mule can be purchased for from £5 to £10. The burro, or ordinary ass, is always, apparently m the last stages of decrepitude, besides being blemished by many open sores, which ai» Mexican master operates upon with a

pointed stick when he desires the burro lo progress. A curious dark stripe is always noticeable about their shoulders ; possibly it ;m ay be the last surviving sign of thendescent from more full striped ancestors. Burros are very plentiftil and far from costly, the ordinary price being from 5s to 10s. Usually they are emplo3'ed m teams of 14, hitched to heavy waggons.

loaded with wood brought from the mountains, and used as fuel in the furnaces of mining mills. At Minas Prietas, the greatest, camp in north-west Mexico, one

sees scores of these waggons at the end of each month filing in long procession to the mines. The cords of wood are stacked in 7ft high parallelograms, intersected by narrow pathways. On a pitch-dark night it is an eerie sensation to go through, a short cut in the wood piles, in win. snakes and other reptile^ <ue usually unpleasantly plentiful.

Among reptiles, +he most dreaded is the fearful helo monster (Heloderma suspectum), a species of large lizard — at least,

lizard-like in body, though the horriblelooking head, with its protrusive pairotbill and flat snake-skull, makes it unlike and more terrifying than any other living

thing. Differing from other deadly reptiles, its poi«on does not lie in its fangs, and there is some difficulty about locating it There do not seem to be many authentic cases of recovery from the 3ffeclt- of its bite, so that the universal terror of il ,'s not inexplicable. Rattlesnakes, coralsnakes, and curagos infest the stony 2>laecs in the deserts, but rarely enter the bu&y camps. The curago attains a goodly length, sometimes as much as 9ft, but is quite harmless, and very sluggish in its movements. It gets its name from the cruciform mark in white upon its forehead, on account of which the superstitious country people will not harm it. Frequently, indeed, it i* treated as. a household pet.

Centipedes, scorpions, ?nd tarantulas are also common, growing to a great size. Though they sometimes prove deadly to children, they are rarely fatal to adults.

Disease is rife in all the centres wheie many people are gathered together. The scourge of smallpox and enteric fever is perpetually present ; while gringos — that is, Americans oi Europeans — -ufiei terribly from dvs-enterv. /

The life of the people in the isolated haciendas or farms is one of great simplicity. The vacqueros are fine healthy fe! lows, good shots, and excellent horsemen ,- but in the camps it is sadly different, and the long rows of gambling booths or mescal dens tell their own tale.

The wholesale trade of Sonora i> largely in the hands of the Germans, who have erected commodious warehouses at Guaym.TS, the seaport. on the Gulf, and started manufactures for the production of sugar, beer, tobacco, and pottery in different pan? of the State ; but the "retail traders are the Chinese, of whom hundreds make Sonora a convenient route to quietly edge their way into the United States, from which by law they are ostensibly excluded. Among the Chinese a curious feature is ihc complete absence of any womankind. In fact, it is only in the Chinatown of Sa'i Francisco that they show themselves <;s though they were at home in China.

Frequent lotteries take })lace among the China-boys. These are more serious, affdiis than the ordinary daily gambles at fantan, for the pool is so veil Mib»crib£d to that the lucky winner make-- enough to return to hi^ native land and e-t'blisd himself there as aininof hi bounce. It is an .ilmo^t tragic Mizlil to Match lie shamed yellow face-, old and young, tint chi-ier round the pool. Yil -tfter it is all over they are so impa«=ive that you forget the intense emotion* tb.nl for n moment revealed to you the C'hm imarf- hnmc-SK-k-ne^.

From across the Unit d S' ul (.:- bn IC I r many Mi-mce .ivfarers coino into ,'-i>noi i — ino^llv- men 'wa.nLc.il' for l i. lk lining,

horse-stealing, sheriff-shooting, or less creditable adventures. The presence of so many of these individuals makes for livslines.% of a kind. One or two per cent. ->f Fienchmen remind you that Mexico was once overrun by the troops of France, and that many Fienchmen still emigrate to the ancient land of the Aztecs. A lew Germans, always unsuitably attired for the great heat, make money unobtuisively, and do not dispute with the Americans, who boldly "gues.s" that when Mexico is good enough to grab, "God's Country" will annex it.