ROUTES THROUGH SONORA. 95 
_ of apology, concluded by saying that, if I left the mule with 
him, ‘‘I was quite welcome to the difference.” 
The present boundary-line. between the United States and 
- Mexico has been well chosen, for it pretty nearly coincides 
with the southern rim of the Gila Basin. Highlands, covered 
with mountain ranges, are encountered all along the boundary 
from the Guadaloupe Mountains, which connect the Sierra 
_ Madre of Mexico with the Chiricahui Range of Arizona, to 
_ the Sonora Desert, and separate the head-waters of the streams 
, flowing northward into the Gila from those running south- 
ward to the Gulf. ) 
_ There are several routes by which Sonora may be entered 
from the north. There is a depression in the mountains 
to the west of Janos, through which a road, or mule trail, 
runs from the Casas Grandes valleys across the main divide 
into the basin of the Yaqui River. North-west of this 
route there is a trail, known as Cooke’s Emigrant Road, 
which passes through the Guadaloupe Cafion, and leads to 
-Fronteras and Santa Cruz. The same towns can be reached 
by following up the Rio San Pedro to its source, and the 
southern: country can be penetrated by passing through the 
-Cocospera Cafion, and joining the straight road from Tucson at 
{ Imures, on the San Ignacio River.” From Tucson there are 
three routes by which Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, 
‘may be reached. Ist. There is the straight road up 
the Rio Santa Cruz, across the boundary-line at Nogales, 
down the San Ignacio River to Magdalena, and thence dae 
south to Hermosillo and Guaymas, a distance ig ae 
: 2nd. A road branches off to the westward at Canoa, thirty- 
four miles south of Tucson, and goes through Aravaca, 
across the mountains to the head of the Altar River, vegan . 
follows for some distance, then bears eastward again, and 
