152 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 321. 



general slaughter of these animals has been going on dur- 

 ing the past year or two. A well-informed correspondent 

 of Forest and Stream asserts that in Colonel Anderson's 

 opinion there are not more than two hundred or two hun- 

 dred and fifty left. Since the head of a buffalo is worth 

 from $200 to $300, and the butcher can do his work with 

 little danger of detection and still less danger of any pun- 

 ishment, any measure looking toward the protection of 

 the public property in the park will improve the present 

 condition of things. We are, therefore, pleased to know 

 that Mr. Lacey's bill for punishing crimes in Yellowstone 

 Park has passed the House. Under this act any person 

 who kills or captures within the limits of the park any 

 animal, bird or fish, unless authorized to do so by regu- 

 lations made by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be 

 punished by a fine not exceeding a thousand dol- 

 lars or by imprisonment not exceeding two years, or by 

 both. The park is also by this act placed under the juris- 

 diction of the United States, so that all the laws appli- 

 cable to places under such jurisdiction shall be in full force 

 in the park. If any offence which is not prohibited or pun- 

 ishable by the laws of the United States shall be committed 

 within the park the offender shall be liable to punishment 

 under the laws of the state of Wyoming. For the purposes 

 of this act Yellowstone Park is constituted a portion of the 

 United States judicial district of Wyoming, and the United 

 States court for this district is to have jurisdiction over 

 offences against the laws of the United States committed 

 within the park. Persons who are familiar with the condi- 

 tions of the park feel that this law is inadequate in some 

 particulars, but certainly it is a step in the right direction. 

 Under the present laws and regulations there is no object 

 in the park, whether animate or inanimate, which is safe 

 from vandal attack, and, indeed, the so-called protection of 

 the Government has been, in fact, little more than an ad- 

 vertisement to head-hunters that elk and buffalo and other 

 big game have been gathered into this great pleasure- 

 ground of the people so that they could be hunted and 

 butchered with ease and impunity. 



Notes of Mexican Travel. — VII. 



IN JALISCO. 



THE state of Jalisco, by its varied flora, held me closely 

 throughout my ninth season of botanical exploration 

 in the Mexican Republic. I arrived in Guadalajara, its 

 capital, at the beginning of May last, and kept that base 

 until I left the country in the middle of November. 



The rains had not commenced when I entered the state, 

 and its plains and hill-sides were brown and dry, as I had 

 never before seen them, for the springs and rills were 

 nearly all dry, and most of the trees and shrubs were still 

 leafless. The few plants gathered during the first two 

 months of my stay were dearly won by diligent gleaning 

 of wide wastes. By the second week of June thunder- 

 storms]were advancing, evening by evening, from the south- 

 east over the coast mountains of Michoacan. These soon 

 traversed the entire state, and were seen, if not encountered, 

 each afternoon with unfailing certainty. About the 1st of 

 July all the landscape was covered with unfolding verdure, 

 and from the middle of that month to the middle of Octo- 

 ber hosts of plants crowded upon the collector wherever 

 he wandered. The last thunder-shower of the season oc- 

 curred on the 7th of October, and then followed almost 

 cloudless days in long succession. The sunshine was still 

 warm even on the table-lands, and under its influence the 

 soil rapidly dried again, the springs and brooks ceased to 

 flow, and the ripening and passing of the vegetation was 

 as swift as had been its rise and unfolding. On the high- 

 lands a few light frosts fell during early November to 

 complete the destruction of the plants and to turn the 

 botanist homeward, unless he chose to glean in the coast 

 regions. 



Next to the four great states of the arid regions of the 



north — Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango — this 

 state of Jalisco is the largest within the Republic. It is 

 certainly the most populous and wealthy of all, and is 

 second to none in fertility of soil. During the six years of 

 my visiting it I have never known its varied harvests to 

 fail in any degree. I have turned from other districts in 

 years when rain failed to visit them, distressed by the 

 sight of the hunger and squalor of their inhabitants, to find 

 the Jaliscenses as well fed and as happy as ever. Lying 

 upon the southern verge of the table-land and bordering 

 the Pacific, this state is within the belt of abundant and un- 

 failing summer rains, and this situation also ensures a cli- 

 mate which is nearly perfect. Its winter frosts are restricted 

 to the higher lands, and even there are few and light. The 

 Andean system, when passing through Jalisco, appears to be 

 depressed or broken up. There are few elevations above 

 9,000 feet over sea-level, or 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the 

 average of its plains. Here are many extensive plains, 

 valleys and slopes of excellent fertility, and all of these are 

 natural grazing-grounds in summer and winter. Wide 

 fields of Wheat whiten the valleys in spring-time, and yield 

 place to luxuriant crops of Maize in autumn, when the hill- 

 sides up to the very summits are checkered with grain-fields. 

 Toward the coast Cane-fields and Coffee-plantations abound, 

 and in the various conditions offered by this state flourish 

 the fruits of the entire list, tropical and temperate. Yet, 

 notwithstanding so great prosperity, there is forced upon 

 the observer the fact that the capacities of the soil are but 

 half-developed. 



Until within a few years Jalisco has lain remote from the 

 activity and progress of the world. Its capital was only 

 reached by a journey of several days by diligence from the 

 city of Mexico, or by long rides in saddle and diligence 

 from the seaports of Manzanillo and San Bias. To-day the 

 tourist is conveyed in a Pullman car over a branch of the 

 Mexican Central, diverging from the main line at Irapuato. 

 A ride thence of only seven or eight hours along the fertile 

 valley of the Lerma brings him to Guadalajara, the proud 

 " Pearl of the West," as the Mexicans style this beautiful 

 city with white-walled palaces and churches and flowery, 

 umbrageous parks, a city second in size only to the national 

 capital. It is situated on an undulating plain at an eleva- 

 tion of 5,000 feet above sea-level. In all directions from 

 the city the view is bounded by hills either of volcanic or 

 of granitic formation, five to ten miles distant, and 1,000 to 

 2,000 feet higher than the plain. Some of these hills appear 

 of the most rocky and rugged character ; others show softer 

 lines, and are covered with a sparse and low forest com- 

 posed chiefly of Pinus oocarpa andQuercus fulva. Twenty- 

 five miles away to the south, beyond several small lakes, 

 rises a chain of mountains some 8,000 feet in altitude, while 

 in the west and north-west, thirty to forty miles distant, 

 appear summits quite as elevated. These higher moun- 

 tains are clad with forests in which Pinus Montezuma?, 

 Quercus reticulata and Q. grisea, and Arbutus varians are 

 the more important species. 



Every visitor to Guadalajara must see the great barranca. 

 Passing northward over gravelly swells for five or six miles, 

 one conies to the brink of a river-cut 1,500 feet deep. In 

 the bottom he sees the Lerma, or Santiago, foaming- white 

 in its swift descent to the sea. The width of this barranca, 

 from plain to plain, is about a mile. On its sides steep 

 slopes alternate with sheer precipices hundreds of feet in 

 height. The upper slopes are either open and grassy, or 

 are covered with woody growths of numerous species. The 

 lower or more accessible slopes are occupied by plantations 

 of Bananas, Oranges, Mangoes and other tropical fruits ; 

 for into this gorge, where are gathered the warm rays of 

 the sun, frosts and mountain breezes cannot descend. A 

 paved trail, two miles in length, leads down to the river 

 by zigzag windings over successive terraces, along the 

 verges or bases of cliffs, and through dark alleys in Banana 

 fields. The banks of the river are shaded by immense wild 

 Figs and Cypresses. Beneath the shade is an Indian vil- 

 lage, the huts being of the simplest construction, loose 



