BEAE HUNTING IN MEXICO. 



An invitation was given me by the two young Mexican 

 stockowners mentioned in the last chapter, who were at 

 San Francisco selling cattle, to go down and visit them 

 at their ranch in Lower California, or, as it is generally 

 called. Upper Mexico. As they were two fine young 

 manly fellows, full of life and spirits, and as they pro- 

 mised me fine fun with the antelopes and bears, and any 

 other sport that they could show me, I of course willingly 

 accepted their proposal. 



It did not take me very long to pack up a few — a 

 very few — necessaries, including my W. R. carbine and 

 gun, and after a journey of a few days we arrived 

 safely at the ranch. I cannot say much for the beauty 

 of the country through which we passed; it may be 

 expressed in a line as plain and sand, sand and plain. 

 Despite what one sees in encyclopaedias and books 

 about the glorious scenery and country of Mexico, 

 Peru, and Chile, I will yet venture to say that on the 

 coast there are no more desolate places on the earth 

 than these countries, or, I may add, more glorious^ 

 ones in the interior, out of the beaten track. 



My young friends^ house was of somewhat more 

 pretensions than the generality, ^but there was the same 

 astonishing mixture of cheap furniture and extravagant 

 waste, of accommodation such as a groom in England 

 would turn his nose up at, and useless ornaments of 

 immense \alue. They, and indeed many of the neigh- 



