Present course ^^ 

 Course in 1898 :=-=^^ 

 An old course =zz'~-- 



MAP TO ii^lustrate; thf, wande;rings of the RIO Grande; and of the old 



BOUNDARY 



had been hopelessly wandering for years. 

 The initial case brought before him 

 and his Mexican colleague in their ca- 

 pacity as commissioners was typical of 

 all the others. Mexicans had been im- 

 prisoned on the American side and Amer- 

 icans had been imprisoned on the Mexi- 

 can side; troops of both countries had 

 been ordered out to protect its citizens ; 

 both sides claimed their laws to have been 

 violated ; neither was willing to yield 

 jurisdiction to the other. The next step 



might be riot and bloodshed. This state 

 of things, with endless variations, but 

 always underlying it the probability of 

 clash between the two peoples, prevailed 

 throughout the banco region from Rio 

 Grande City to the Gulf. 



Small in area, rarely attaining to 500 

 acres in extent, not always arable, and 

 rarely inhabited, many of them, indeed, 

 mere sand banks, these bancos are yet 

 rich in mystery and romance. About 

 them has raged for years border conflicts 



384 



