CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY NO, U 9^ 



struck out 



F 



rst person 



The 



deral Government in Mexico City. After a hearty greeting I 

 told him of my mission, and he remarked that there was a profer>5or froni 

 Checkoslovackfa who had been there a month and wxs also hun^ iin for 

 the same reason, but that he would do all he could for us. 

 hesitate to speak in very plain terms to my friend, calling it a dirtv 

 political holdup, and sayine that if it could not be fixed up I would l'c 



I did not 



ia and jet the folks 



that Lower California depends 



It is a 



them alone would mean bankniptcy for them. For 

 government 



Ger- 



there h no sympathy for the baiting of Americans that was so character- 

 istic of the Calles government, till President Coolidpe called Calles do%n 

 harply and told lum just w^ere to head in at Since then Calles has 

 lic^n a vociferous friend of the United States. "Most 

 Americans arose during the World War, and was foi 

 ;nans systematically, who loudly said we were afraid to fight. But Co*'>l- 

 idge put a thorough crimp in it once for. all when he plainly told Calks 

 where to head in. No doubt Calles would have been pron^ptly d^pos^^d u 

 he had not come to time. It is not generally known that the Calles ^ov' 

 ernment was also responsible for the passage of hostile mining legislation 

 that has caused nearly all American, investors and miners to forsake the 

 republic. I w^as told at Acaponeta that the taxes were 28% of the gross 

 <^utput of the mines. This was the cause of the shutting down of all but 

 ^ very few of the biggest mines in Mexico. 



, After waiting three very precious weeks at La Pa^, in idlen<:ss. I got 

 » letter from the Governor authorizing me to work without interference. 

 Tt also took the entire three week^ to get my baggage delivered at La Pa?. 

 ll^en I ^ot tn wnrk strenuouslv aeain. Then to^ a trip to Todos Santo;* 



found 



coast and spent a very profitable week fiiere, making also 

 \ tiie base of the Lagun** mountains at the Cota ranch. 



Then I went back again to La Pax, and the Check professor and 1 

 arranged a joint trip back to Miraflores (40 miles from the Cape), where 

 ^e remained a week and took a trip up the Laguna mountains, on horse- 

 back. We were fortunate in getting my friend Pickett to take us m hi» 

 auto 90 miles to Miraflores, which is about 40 miles northeast of San 

 Jose del Cabo. On our way there we stopped for lunch at San Bartolo. 

 'Ibis is an old town located at the great springs which brealc out of the 

 bills not far below the divide which leads down to the sea south of San 

 'Antonio. There many pahns abound, and there is much cultivation of 

 fruits which find a market at La Paz. This is a unique region, with 

 many interesting plants. Thence the road drops down rapidly to the sea, 

 which is skirted for some 10 miles to a ranch, and ^en it climbs up on 



region, and over on the San Jose river, whidi drams 



San Tosc del Caba The first town on :the river is Santiago, where 

 ave a suear mill Then it fe ^some ID rtsSiks to Miraflores, which 



