GOVERNOR PESQUERA. 127 
commence retrenchment by dispensing for the future with 
_ their assistance, and thus saving the salaries of a number of 
useless functionaries. The port of Guaymas is one of the 
chief sources of revenue. The customs duties levied at the 
- Mexican ports along the Pacific coast average 100 per cent. on 
all manufactured goods, and the moneys thus received belong 
_ exclusively to the Central Government. This, however, was 
i a es | eal 
never allowed by the Governor of Sonora, who always kept 
the money, and by lessening the duties from 100 to 60 per 
cent., induced many merchantmen bound for Mazatlan to enter 
Guaymas instead, so that it has become customary for a vessel 
_ to wait outside these ports until a good bargain has been 
struck relative to the amount of duty to be paid on the cargo. 
A few months before my arrival, President Juarez thought 
he would stop the misappropriation of his lawful revenue, 
and sent one of his own men, Signor Almuda, as collector 
of customs at Guaymas. Pesquera said nothing, but when 
30,000 or 40,000 dollars had been collected, he suddenly 
appeared with a small troop of soldiers and demanded it; on 
being refused, out went Almuda from office, and another 
man was placed in his stead. The money was taken, and 
Almuda, finding resistance hopeless, returned after three 
days to his former position as collector of customs, but this: 
time as servant of Pesquera, not of President Juarez. This 
little transaction occurred but three weeks before I met the 
Governor at Hermosillo, when, fearing that his extremely 
independent action might be interfered with, he thought it 
necessary to increase the State army. This was done by 
spreading the report of a Yaqui war. These Indians, it was 
noised abroad, had rebelled; “the whole Yaqui country was 
in an uproar!” “all travel was .stopped!” “ the Mexicans 
were being brutally massacred!” “to arms! to arms! 1” 
