Photograph by Frank H. Probert 



THE SHAFT OF A MEXICAN MINE 



Labor is so cheap in Mexico that most of the silver mines use the "chicken-ladder" 

 method of getting out their ore. The peons take heavy loads upon their heads and scale 

 these ricketv structures with an astonishing nimbleness. 



low. Hard by, to the right, is the bull- 

 ring, the scene on Sundays and fiestas of 

 farcical combats between two - legged 

 brutes and four-footed beasts. 



In the soft sunshine of summer days 

 the first vista of the city is striking in- 

 deed. Churches of magnificent propor- 

 tions ; ancient and modern architecture 

 strangely blended in the same edifice ; 

 stately buildings ; imposing markets ; 

 stores of all descriptions ; and dwelling 

 places, rudely bare, variously colored 

 with neutral tints of calsomine, their 

 grated windows and open doors exhibit- 

 ing to all the sparsely furnished interior, 



where bird, beast, and human eat and live 

 together. The sordid squalor of the many 

 contrasts strikingly with the oppressive 

 opulence of the few. 



HORSEBACK RIDERS MUST TAKE THE 

 SIDEWALK 



The cobblestone streets are crooked 

 and narrow ; so narrow, in fact, that ca- 

 balleros must take to the sidewalk to per- 

 mit of the passing of any kind of vehicle. 

 The ding}- tram-cars are drawn or 

 dragged by relays of mules, three abreast, 

 beaten into subjection by the stinging 

 lash or coaxed into action by the curses 



34 



