»& COT^^TRlBUTlONS tO WESTEl^N BOT.WY NO. lb 



a tme Ifdithouse 



There is a 



crescent beach of great beauty facing the sea, a fine promenade made of 

 cement which extends to the business houses and hotels. One could sit 

 all day along this beach and dream as he listened to the roar of the surf, 

 at his feet. At some distant day in the past crude forts were built to 

 protect tTie city from assault from the sea, and there are still some old 

 smoothbore guns rusting on their ancient carnages, but the fortifications 



are falling into decay, the best argument for the pacific disposition of the 

 U. S. Beautiful paved roads have been cut along the beach and around 

 the hills for scenic purposes, and one loves to .'^troll along them in the 

 evening. Mazatlan lies between rather lofty and steep hills, densely clad 

 with tall brush. It is a very stately city with many fine old buildings, 

 and paved streets. Three days were spent here in strenuous botanizing 

 Then the long trek for home. As you roll along over tlie plain northward 

 you find the brush is taller, some 20 feet high, and often large trees 

 appear scattered in it, but no real forest. Along the rivers are large 

 areas of bamboo-like grass, 10 to IS feet high, and occa.sionally forests of 

 cotton woods (populus dimorpha) . The rivers are about 1 00 yards wide 



and full of water. No roads anoear anvwhere exrent in the 



'mmedi ate 



towns. There is still little grass. 



same 



bru' 



an occasional clearing and a ranch or small town. From Culiacan north 

 there was some reduction in the highth of the brush, but the cactus became 

 mo-e evident, consisting chiefly of Ccreus Pringlei and Thurberi. There 

 were many square miles punctured thickly with Ihese cacti. Night brought 

 us at Culiacan and we saw nothing till the next morning at Navajoa and 

 Cajeme, big towns, vi-here thry have modern systems of irrigation, and 

 great factories. After Cajeme we had the same escort of soldiers in 

 armored carsto defend us as we passed through the Vaqui country. Each 

 railroad station had much the same protection as we had seen above, 

 namely a dirt wall about six feet high, and behind that a trench filled 

 with Eohders' quarters, generally forming a square, in the middle of which 

 was a two story square fort made of adobes, and a cupola on the top for 

 a lookout. There were no field pieces, the weapons being only rifles and 

 machine guns. The brush was entirely cleared from around the railroad 

 en both sides for at least 100 yards, and outside the dirt wall were strings 

 of nfle J>it3, which consisted of holes about six feet long by two feet wide 

 and a foot deep, just enough for one solider to lie down. Often these 

 pits continued along the track for a mile. Soldiers were everywhere at 

 the station and their women with them, but there was little evidence cf 

 any real drill or order among them. At Yicam station was the center of 

 tlie Yaqui and a mile or so toward the sea was the town or capitol of the 

 nation. But when I was tliere the town was deserted, and there was noth- 

 ing at the station but the ashes of the Yaqui huts that had lined the rail- 

 -" track for half a mile. It was at Yicam that the Yaquis robbed a 

 »».x, and massacred some of the passengers a short time before I wa- 

 there. It was also at this station that they held up General Obregon'.^ 



road 



