A CARAVAN OF PACK ANIMALS COMING IN FROM THF COUNTRY 



Americans are wont to employ the mule as a symbol of stubbornness and to speak of 

 the donkey as the epitome of stupidity, but patience and meekness are the outstanding char- 

 acteristics of these animals in Mexico. With rations on which an American sheep or a 

 European goat would go hungry, the burdens which these poor beasts are forced to bear are 

 out of all proportion to their strength and size, and they are driven many a weary mile over 

 bridle-paths where a horse would find hard traveling; yet they are always docile and uncom- 

 plaining, as if adversity were a stranger to them. Imagine a dozen donkeys transformed 

 into as many lumber wagons, with long, heavy boards strapped on each side, and driven a 

 dozen miles without food, except now and then a chance bit of prickly foliage which they 

 manage to nip as they walk along! 



S3 



