Mexico to the Mountains 89 



for grazing purposes, and corn varying in quality, 

 but always high in price, from one dollar to fifty 

 cents per bushel. 



When we left Monterey we followed the road to 

 Rinconada, which is a beautifully located rancho, 

 well watered and with a long avenue of pollard 

 poplars or cotton-woods; the boles not more than 

 ten or fifteen feet high, so that the flawy gusts that 

 are like little hurricanes for a few seconds, and 

 which come from the mountainswhich surround the 

 place in every direction, cannot blow them down. 

 Here we saw the first magua plants, from the juice 

 of which pulke [pulque] is made, and afterwards 

 muscale [mescal] distilled. Muscale in taste is 

 more like creosote and water, slightly sweetened, 

 than anything I can compare it to, and I suppose 

 it is about as wholesome. 



The peons who do the work of the hacienda are 

 completely Indian in character, appearance and 

 habits, sometimes marvelous in their strength and 

 activity, and sometimes surprising us with their 

 unsurpassed laziness. The women, patient things, 

 like all squaws, carry wood, water, and do all the 

 household labor. 



From this beautiful little amphitheatre among 

 the hills we wound along parched arroyos and 

 valleys, and I could not but be struck with the wise 

 provision of nature for the protection of its crea- 

 tions. Almost all the trees have tap roots, or if 



