20 THE LIVING CYCADS 



cattle, but cattle have friends. One may see a dozen 

 blackbirds on a cow's back and others hopping up from 

 beneath to get the ticks ; and besides the cattle are driven 

 into the rivers where the fish pick off every tick in sight. 



The hacienda had afforded a far more extensive 

 study than I had dared to anticipate when I left Chicago, 

 but I had a ticket to Tuxtepec and an introduction 

 to its "Hefe Politico," an official who seemed to have 

 the combined powers of mayor, police, and judge. I 

 arrived in the morning, presented my credentials, and 

 indicated that I was ready to start. My knowledge of 

 Spanish was inadequate, and the ''Hefe" knew less 

 about English, but I made him understand that I 

 wanted to start at once, and he made me understand 

 that I could not start until tomorrow. Later I found 

 that the governor had made him personally responsible 

 for my safety, and as a precautionary move he had 

 immediately sent to the mountains, twenty miles beyond, 

 for a guide who knew both the people and the region 

 which I wished to visit. 



The country beyond Tuxtepec is full of botanical 

 opportunity. The Papaloapan River at that place is 

 as wide as the Mississippi River at St. Louis, and the 

 vegetation along its banks is rich and varied. Leaving 

 the river, one comes into a fairly open forest, which can 

 be traversed on horseback. Several species of Zamia 

 were encountered before we came to the object of our 

 journey. Dioon spinulosum is so abundant that in 

 some places it is almost the only large plant, and it would 

 not be exaggerating to speak of a Dioon forest. The 

 plants were of the same size and appearance as those at 

 Tierra Blanca but grew in denser stands. The whole 



