:::::::::C TWO BIRD -LOVERS IN MEXICO "X^ 



was to bear us to the town of Orizaba ; and as we 

 whirled along, we were " just one large eye." For the 

 first few miles, sand, sand everywhere, and as we 

 approached the edge of this coastal desert, the ravages 

 of the " norther " became plainly visible. Far to the 

 north of us, midwinter blizzards were raging ; snow 

 was drifting and filling every hollow. Here, although 

 nothing had fallen from the sky, a more deadly bliz- 

 zard had swept over the land. In some j)laces the sand 

 seemed to have been lifted bodily in great masses by 

 the gale, and carried inland. Fenced-in gardens of 

 vegetables and Mowers were a foot deep in level sand, 

 while the sombrercjed Mexicans were workina" frantic- 

 ally with fingers and baskets to remove the deadly 

 weight of stony grains. More than one thatched hut 

 was crushed in to windward by the weight of drifted 

 sand, and many of the banana palms were buried 

 so deep that their low-arching leaves were all held 

 fast. We saw where the natives had erected a stout 

 barrier to protect a little cultivated patch, but this 

 j)roved merely a challenge which the north wind ac- 

 cepted with fierce jov. It was sliort work to fill in 

 the windward side with the shifting dust, and then 

 each blast sent a cloud, swirling up the slope to fall 

 over the top like a waterfall — a merciless stream of 

 bliiihtino" sand. 



The train soon left behind this unpleasant zone of 

 Nature's warfare, and we passed into dense jungles as 



^ 20 ^ 



