ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 



139 



this pursues its scavenging operations with a ruffianly impudence that 

 is disgusting. It is said that every community in those parts has one 

 buzzard for every inhabitant. According to that, Minatitlan has lots 

 of folks that do not appear in public, for seated on fences, on roofs, 

 swooping down to rob the dogs, fighting, flapping, and squawking, the 

 buzzards were legion. 



A little later we all assembled at the boat landing, climbed over a 

 lot of Indian dugouts, and were prepared for the trip up river. Our 

 journey that day was to be up the Coatzacoalcos, the Usapanapa, and 

 Chichigapa Rivers, some twenty miles, to visit plantation Rubio. We 



THATCHED VILLAGE ON THE UBERO PLANTATION. 



had elected to talk a lot about rubber planting, but the strange sights, 

 the wonderful scenery, and the glory of the day drove all thought of 

 "shop" out of our minds. By tangled forests, great, grassy plains, 

 Indian villages, and bamboo thickets, we went, disturbing sullen alli- 

 gators, and great milk white cranes, and being hailed in unknown tongues 

 by the naked children on the river banks. 



When the novelty of the scene had in a measure worn off, I availed 

 myself of my privilege of asking questions, selecting the general man- 

 ager of the Solo Suchil as my first victim. He responded most cor- 



