SONGEA. 95 



tliat of all the older settlements in the peninsula, differs little from that of the 

 Zuni Pueblos in New Mexico. It consists of one huge square block enclosed by a 

 trench, and without any windows or other apertures on the outer sides. This 

 common stone dwelling is disposed in two storeys, the first of which recedes a few 

 yai'ds from the basement, and is reached by a ladder placed against the wall. A 

 second ladder leads to the top of the building, whence the inmates get access by 

 trap-doors and more ladders to the rooms and inner court. 



In recent years some commercial activity has been developed in districts which 

 were formerly desert or almost uninhabited. Thus the village of Mulege, lying on 

 the shores of Santa Inez Bay, over 60 miles north-west of Loreto, has become a 

 busy mining centre since the discovery of auriferous deposits in the valleys of the 

 interior. Near the United States frontier the village of Todos Scnitos gives its name 

 to the neighbouring bay, which offers excellent shelter to vessels engaged in the 

 coasting trade. The port of San J^artoîomé, which stands on the opposite side of 

 Cape San Eugenie, also attracts »some shipping. But the best haven on the whole 

 coast is that of Santa Magdalena, the narrow entrance to which has over 100 feet 

 of water in the channel. "The spacious inner basin is large enough to accommodate 

 whole fleets. 



SONORA — SiNALOA. 



The State of Sonera, whicli faces the northern part of the Californian peninsula, 

 is also one of the least inliabited regions in the republic ; with an area of nearly 

 80,000 square miles, its population scarcely exceeds 150,000, or rather less than 

 two to the square mile. In 1859, the adventurer, Raousset Boulbon, who had 

 placed himself at the head of a band of French miners returning from California,, 

 was for sometime master of honora. The arable tracts, where the civilised Indians 

 and Mestizoes have formed settlements, are confined to the bottom lands of the 

 mountain valleys. Every town and village is encircled by a zone of irrigated land, 

 the settlements thus forming so many oases, some of which are connected together 

 by narrow strips of verdure. The very name of the country, from the Opata word 

 Sonorafzi, a " Place of Springs," originally applied to a cattle ranche, indicates the 

 important part played by wells in this arid region. 



Amongst the Sonoran towns Santa Magdalena lies nearest to the United 

 States frontier, being situated on a headstream of the Rio de la Asuncion, which 

 flows west to the north end of the Gulf of California. At the time of the 

 annual fairs the whole of the surrounding populations, white and red, American 

 and Mexican, form temporary camping-grounds in the valley of the river. Far- 

 ther south several settlements have been founded in the basin of the Rio Sonora ; 

 such are Avispe, in the territory of the Opata Indians, formerly capital of the 

 state ; Urcs, which succeeded it as centre of the administration, and which lies 

 near the narrow gorges where the river escapes from the Sierra Madre on its 

 westerly course to the Gulf ; lastly IlermofilUo, formerly P///t', or the " Confluence," 

 the largest town in Sonora and centre of a considerable agricultural industry. The 

 district which is irrigated by the last waters of the Sonora, and its Cucurpe 



