THE TIERRA CALIEXTE, OR HOT COAST REGION. 17 



"On the table-land the soil must be plowed for sowing; in the tierra caliente the 

 plow is met with on the larger plantations only. The rancheros plant their summer 

 produce mostly in forest land, where no plow can be employed. In the dry .season 

 they hew down all the trees and bushes. The wood is allowed to dry for some 

 months, and then set fire to. When the rain sets in, the grain is sown without the 

 soil being turned up. With an iron-pointed stick holes are bored in the ground, 

 and the seed-corn cast in. Maize, beans, rice, cotton, etc., are sown in this manner, 

 and tobacco transplanted. Iji a few days the young seed shoots up, and with it 

 innumerable weeds. Cotton thrives there only where the winter months are without 

 rain, especially on the southern and ocean coasts, and on the west side of the Cor- 

 dilleras to the height of three thousand feet. On the east side the winter in the 

 neighborhood of the mountains is too damp. The cotton is spoiled by dew and 

 rain, in consequence of which it is planted in the hot coast regions only. 



"The indolence of the inhabitants is wonderful. A few dozen bananas, a small 

 field with manioc and maize, afford nourishment without much labor. The coast 

 rivers abound in excellent fish and turtle, and there are whole forests of palms 

 affordmg palm-wine and oil. The small planter, or ranchero, of the warmer dis- 

 tricts, besides his maize field, has usually some plots of land with beans, chile, 

 tomatoes, yams, and bananas, which furnish him with a quantity of nourishment 

 The edible arum root bears from ten to fifteen pounds' v^'eight of bulbs to each 

 plant, the yam (dioscorea) develops monstrous roots weighing from fifty to eighty 

 pounds, the batata, or sweet potato, produces its meally bulb three or four months 

 after being planted, and the manioc (jfatrofjta manihot) gives a quantity of excellent 

 starch, while the bananas and plantain yield more fruit (upon which alone the family 

 could subsist) than they can consume. 



" The rancheros of the tierra caliente live mostly in frail huts of bamboo and reeds, 

 open for the passage of cool breezes, and shaded by bananas and plantains. Beneath 

 the roof swings a hammock, and very few, indeed, are the domestic utensils. They 

 can seldom read or write. When they intend marrying, they must know part of the 

 Catechism by heart, therefore, when the time comes, be crammed up to the mark. 

 They are not fond of hard work, nor have they any need of it, as they have plenty 

 to live upon if they devote but a few hours a day to agricultural labor. They are 

 good hunters, know the haunts of the deer and wild boar, and track the wild turkey. 

 The men tan the deer-skins remarkably well, dye and make their clothes of them ; 

 the women spin and weave cotton. During half the year there is little or nothing- 

 to be done in the field. The chase is then attended to, or the fibres of the long- 

 leaved bromelia pita, or of the maguey, are prepared, cordage and ropes made of it, 

 and sent to market. In other localities they collect copal, storax, and Peruvian 

 balsam, the fruits of the oil-palm, pimento or vanilla. Many days, however, are 

 passed extended on the mat, playing the guitar, sleeping, or staring up at the blue 

 sky." To counterbalance the many advantages of life in the tierra caliente, there are 

 the many dangers attendmg it, especially to the unacclimated, resulting from noxious 

 disease peculiar to the tropic coast, the poisonous insects and reptiles.-and the very 

 monotony of an isolated existence. 



HORSE AND CATTLE RAISING, 



It is not owing solely to the fact that the large haciendas are too vast to cultivate, 

 that so many Mexicans devote themselves to the herdsman's life. Ill is a pursuit of 



