PAPAGOS IN PETTICOATS. 119 
oranges and limes. He showed us his stock of corn, his 
fields, and his poultry ; and after a rest of about three hours, 
he insisted upon saddling our mules himself, and would only 
receive payment for the fruit. Thus refreshed at the out- 
skirts of the settlements—for the country we had passed 
through was practically uninhabited—we crossed the river, 
and proceeded on our way to Hermosillo through avenues of 
large cotton-wood trees, past several settlements and some 
fine haciendas. The hacienda of Labor looks like a large 
—country-house, reminding you, however, of Spain and the 
Alhambra by its horse-shoe arches and Moorish arcades. 
Leading up to it is a broad avenue, lmed on each side with 
- the square-shaped huts of the peons, made of canes, lightly 
thatched and shaded by the trees above. Here humming- 
_ birds were fluttering over the flowers near the house. 
All around, and for some distance above the river, every 
acre appeared to be under cultivation. The banks were 
- clothed on both sides, to the water’s edge, with plantations 
of sugar-cane; beyond these, some thousands of acres of 
- cotton had just ceased to bear the feathéry pods; and further 
_ back, again, were fields of maize, wheat, and beans. 
On the outskirts of this and several other settlements 
passed on the way we met some of our old friends, the Papago 
Indians. They had built very neat conical huts, thatched with 
care, and seemed to be domg a prosperous trade with the 
: Mexicans. | 
Now, I remember very well in England, before I ever | 
thought of coming to this out-of-the-way part of the globe, 
- that some near relations of mine used to meet other girls of 
| their acquaintance, given like themselves to good works, for 
the purpose of holding Dorcas meetings and making clothes 
_ to cover the poor heathen. I long tried in vain to discover 
