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i 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY NO. li • 91 



: ea-tward, . up in the mountains, and I was cordiaH 



botaniz 



ing at once around Acaponeta. Like all the rest of, Mexico it is all brush 

 as soon as you get out of town. To the nortli was quite a mesa a few 

 miles off, where I got many species. To the south of town was the Aca- 

 poneta river, 100 yards wide and several feet deep, and along it .were 

 .some ranches, there was a large sugar ' cane plantation Just across the 

 R. R, bridge, where they were making sugar. In the river and up to 

 iheir hips in the water were the women washing clothes. I, spent about a 

 \veek here till I got the bulk of the flora, ' Then I hired a Mexican and 

 two saddle horses to take me uip to the mine. It was a five hours' ridt* 

 and we had to start about 4 o'clock in the morning in order to get well 

 L'p before it got too hot. I had not ridden a horse for five years, and the 

 Mexican saddle made riding a Purgatory for me. It surely was torture. 

 After two hours of it I had to get off and. walk.. Then remounted and 

 had more Purgatory till we forded the .river soem 10 miles up, and bcgo^i 

 climbing the hills toward the' mine.. Then we came to a ranch whcje \\\' 



mi breakfast of tortillas, beans 



on an. open fire as they all do in Mexico still. . Then we remounted and 

 lode along the increasingly steep trail to. the mine, J did very litth- 

 botanizing on the way up, but after a while we got into the live oik.;, 

 and then to the mine, which hung on the steep' slope of a mountain, witli 

 quite a little town below, where the miners lived. It surely was good to 



Americans 



in a re?il .Aemrican bed/ I had a delightful visit with the engineers, an 1 



this 



of western Mexico. I stayed over night and did considerable botanizini^ 

 on the mountain. The next morning I started back and botanized almost 

 all the way back to Acaponeta, getting many new things and one ne^v 

 frn. The torture of riding was worse than the day before, but I could 

 relieve it partially by getting off and botanizing along the way. I reached 

 ' citv late that evening, but loaded down with fine things. Then came 



th 



miles bv rail. I did no fufth 



I. reached Mazatlan duly and stayed over night and then pot all ^ny ^^"^ 

 gage checked for Nogales, and by dint of getting a berfh In the Pullman 



ape, 



f, Sonora, about mi 

 American side, hir 



At the fence the boy said he was riot allowed to go farther, and ^o I 

 paid him off. Then I had to hire another man to take me the rest of the 

 way. The guards passed me with litde fuss, and I landed at my hotel, 

 happy as a clam to get back into America again, ^^.^^f^^ J?^^^^ 

 good to see die stars arid stripes again. The * 







baggage. M had to visit the custom-house 



canceled. Then went ovei-to the baggage room ana was wiauu^ lux uiv 

 inspectors V(Mexican) to look "over things to see that I was not evading 

 any export duty. I was standing there in some trepidation for my turn 

 ^^hen a slap on mv back and a cheery "Hello, Professor - from the chief 



