584 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



wheels revolving at right angles to the 

 direction of the walk. The posts are set 

 at one end of the walk, with the axle of 

 one of the wheels in each post projecting 

 through in the direction of the walk, so 

 that a wisp of the fiber may be attached 

 to it. 



By means of a string passed over the 

 wheels a boy keeps them in rapid revolu- 

 tion, while the spinner, carrying a bundle 

 of fiber suspended at his waist, backs 

 away toward the other end of the walk, 

 feeding out the fiber slowly to form the 

 rope yarn, a hundred feet or more in 

 length. These yarns may then be twisted 

 into ropes or fed into a rude wooden 

 loom, operated by foot power, and woven 

 into matting. 



There grows extensively over the table- 

 land a small desert tree, less than 4 feet 

 in height, with silvery, grayish leaves. It 

 grows often as the dominant plant over 

 considerable areas of the calcareous foot- 

 hills, where it gives an aspect to the vege- 

 tation similar to that of the sage-brush 

 areas of our western plains. This plant 

 is widely known as the guaynle, and its 

 product, a kind of rubber, has been an 

 item of large commercial interest in cen- 

 tral Mexico during the last decade. 



Although it was known long ago that 

 the plant produced rubber, its profitable 

 extraction has been a matter of only re- 

 cent years, and now on many of the haci- 

 endas the cutting of guaynle is a thriving 

 and remunerative business. The plant is 

 generally uprooted, regardless of conser- 

 vation principles, bound into bales, and 

 shipped to factories in the cities. About 



10 per cent of the dry weight of the tree 

 is gum, which is separated from the tissue 

 by grinding and extraction by solvents or 

 by mechanical agencies. 



THE DAYS OF THE HACIENDA ARE 

 NUMBERED 



Various other activities of greater or 

 less magnitude and importance are fea- 

 tures of the hacienda life, much as they 

 have been since the first settlement of the 

 country. Where the railroads have pene- 

 trated and foreign capital has entered, 

 they feel to some extent the influence of 

 the world's progress and the march of 

 events. At the best, however, they are 

 isolated and provincial, living in the dis- 

 tant past, preferring old customs, man- 

 ners, and dress, and tenacious of indolent 

 habits, the rich and the poor alike. 



The days of the old haciendas are num- 

 bered. Such institutions cannot long re- 

 sist the pressure of the times. Capital 

 is insistent for opportunity where there 

 is profitable investment. Colonization en- 

 terprises in different parts of the country 

 have already secured large areas and di- 

 vided them into small tracts. Revolutions 

 can only temporarily delay such develop- 

 ment. 



The best leaders of the Mexican people 

 are realizing that one of the great needs 

 of the nation is the free use of the land 

 and the building of homes. Whatever 

 the outcome of the present strife, there 

 awaits a period of reconstruction in 

 which the disposition of the hacienda 

 must have a large share. 



Mr. Robert E. Coker's article, "Wealth of a Rainless Coast," noted on pages 

 514 and 515, was originally scheduled for this month's issue, and the pictures given 

 to the engraver some months ago, to be printed with the bird series in colors. In 

 view of the great demand for information about Mexico, it has been deemed ex- 

 pedient to temporarily withhold Mr. Coker's interesting article to admit the Mexi- 

 can material. 



