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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



AN AGE-OlvD SWEETMEAT OE MEXICO 



The workman in the foreground is pouring the syrup of sugar-cane from a ladle of ebony 

 wood into the wooden molds. In this way panocha, the most universal sweetmeat of Mexico, is 

 prepared. It tastes and looks much like our maple sugar, and extraordinary virtues are attributed 

 to it by the Indians. 



him ; but the troops sent against him were 

 cut up time after time. 



After a battle the Yaquis disappeared 

 without leaving- a sign. The "bronco" 

 Yaqui became the tame Yaqui overnight. 

 He traded breech clout for the blue over- 

 alls of honest labor. 



Of course, that sort of thing could not 

 be endured by the Mexican Govern- 

 ment. Without discussing the rights and 

 wrongs, the fact remained that the Yaqui 

 stood in the path of progress. President 

 Diaz at first tried to conciliate and then 

 to defeat them, and finally resorted to a 

 policy of extermination. 



A Yaqui scalp had a cash value over 

 the counter. I have talked with a man 

 who sat at breakfast with a Mexican gen- 

 eral to whom was reported the capture 

 of 200 Yaqui braves. Without leaving 

 the table, he ordered that half be shot 

 and the other half deported to Yucatan, 

 where laborers were needed on the sisal 

 plantations. 



One hears in Sonora that not all the 

 ships that sailed for Yucatan voyaged far- 

 ther than the first shark fishing ground. 



THE YAQUIS ARE MEXICO'S BEST FIGHTING 



MEN 



Diaz had cowed the Yaquis if he had 

 not completely subjugated them. The 

 river valleys were given over to the plow 

 and the prospectors roamed at will 

 through the mountains. 



Then Francisco Madero, practical ideal- 

 ist, enlisted them in his fight against Diaz, 

 and the Yaquis discovered that they could 

 play a part in politics. They are Mexico's 

 best fighting men. To-day the tribe is 

 being maintained with pay and rations as 

 a part of the Mexican army. 



The railroad line to Tonichi and other 

 short lines leading into the Yaqui country 

 have been abandoned. The Yaquis have 

 been pursuing a policy of more or less 

 peaceful penetration into what was once 

 their own country. 



