::::::::aS: TWO BiRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO "je:::j::: 



ered with bark o£ similar colour and texture. Instead 

 o£ the trunk ending suddenly at the base and ramify- 

 ing into a mass of radiating roots, the main stem grad- 

 ually divides into these structures, which wind and 

 twist, like so many snakes, about the crevices of the 

 cliff, often reaching downward in total length many 

 times the height of the tree itself. At the bottom 

 of the canyon they enter the ground and lose their 

 yellow covering. 



Whenever birds, insects, and flowers were absent from 

 the trail and the voleanos were temporarily hidden from 

 sight, we could always occupy ourselves with the study 

 of pack-mule psychology. And there was never lack of 

 interesting material. Verily some of these sure-footed, 

 long-eared beasts of burden seemed to be endowed with 

 human intelligence, and that too of an order highly 

 developed through knowledge of much wickedness ! One 

 vicious beast had a trick of slyly rubbing up against 

 our riding-animals, choosing a time when the trail 

 narrowed and deepened, thus bruising our bodies most 

 unmercifully. When urged on faster than they liked, 

 they would carelessly and with sleepy eyes edge up to 

 us and nip our ankles sharply. But the remarkable 

 exhibition of intelligence, to which I have alluded, was 

 shown in the ingenious ways in which they sought to 

 ease or relieve themselves of their loads. One large 

 black mule, aptly named Diablo, was a stubborn brute 

 and would take any amount of punishment without 



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