152 Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. |February, f 
lazy existence. In the hands of an enterprising people all val- 
leys thus supplied with water might be rendered highly produc 
tive. A little corn, plenty of red pepper, the national chili cal 
rado, a few sheep or goats and pigs comprise the worldly ambi | 
tion of the swarthy inhabitant, Cutting ditches ‘for irrigating L 
purposes, planting and reaping more grain or corn than is needed i 
for individual wants, require labor, and life seems too short t | 
the Mexican to waste it in so uncongenial a manner. Now ani j 
returns for their thrift and industry. a 
A Mexican town presents a very forlorn appearance: Gray 
mud composes the buildings, brown mud the streets and bl 
mud the fields or gardens. Lazy, dirty, wretchedly poor, the! F 
habitants manage to procure from day to day the means of keep i 
ing body and soul together. Few of them can be persuaded ® q 
-work unless it be in connection with horses or cattle. Squalling 4 
children and lean, sharp-backed pigs wallow in mud, alike 
almost, in appearance as in intellect. Even one of the chid 7 
amusements of our own more civilized backwoods, ‘siteng 
fence-rails of a Sunday and whittling, is denied these unfort ‘ 
creatures. Whenever an attempt at fencing is made, our po 
and rails are supplied by a wall of sun-dried brick, on the 
which are planted dense rows of aggressive cactus. Small as 
-intelligence of the average Mexican farmer may be, it sult 
teach him that cactus are not pleasant to sit upon for 9¥ 
recreation. Only their graveyards are in good condition; * 
are carefully tended, embellished with numerous white € 
and protected by massive walls against the interferen 
coyotes. 
Since the discovery of metalliferous veins, coinciding ee! 
~ with the advent of a railroad, large numbers of prosp 
miners, mechanics and a fair percentage of professional | 
_ drels have flocked into the country. Small “ American k 
ments have sprung up in the mining regions, notably ' 
Hillsboro and Daly (Lake valley), so that the extraction 
is gradually assuming the character of a legitimate busti 
terprise throughout the Black Range and its adjoining O° 
_ Prospectors are daily covering more’ ground, and ere long 
more distant ranges will be drawn within the circle of 
