LETTER V. 



73 



the horses turned loose to look after themselves, 

 the men begin baking and frying their bacon, 

 and at dark the camp is asleep. For this work 

 packers get nothing when going out ' light,' and, 

 at present rates, three cents a pound and ' grub 

 themselves ' when loaded. The distances covered 

 vary from 100 to 150 miles, and they will pack 

 anything, from flour to furniture. Mule-trains 

 belonging to Mexican greasers do about ten or 

 twelve miles a day, while Indians and their ponies 

 do nearly double. A horse's load is from 200 

 to 300 Ibs., and as a rule two men and a cook 

 with twenty horses compose the ' outfit.' Late 

 in the afternoon we came upon another class of 

 workers, sitting beside the trail where it ran close 

 to the river's edge, through a deep sandy soil. 

 A group, these, of quiet, inoffensive-looking little 

 fellows in blue, with rather ragged-looking pig- 

 tails, eating their wretched daily ration of rice 

 under a lean-to shelter of bark. All about them 

 were little holes and pits in the sand, as if 

 they had meditated burrowing away from the 

 rough white men who revile and molest them. 

 On being civilly addressed in pigeon English by 

 my guide, they huddled together like sheep, and 

 though they smiled upon us benignly, refused to 

 enter into conversation. Perhaps they could not 

 understand S.'s pigeon English. I confess I 



