NOTES ON SOUTHERN MEXICO 



309 



INDIAN WOMEN AT THE FOUNTAIN : SAN BARTOIyOME 



The method here employed for com- 

 bating the weevil is to plant the cotton 

 only in alternate years. When Sehor 

 Tirado began planting cotton, several 

 years ago, four or five other Unqueros 

 began planting at the same time. All 

 secured fine returns the first year. Con- 

 trary to the advice of Sehor Tirado, the 

 others planted the following year and 

 the weevils completely destroyed the 

 crop. Sehor Tirado waited until the 

 others had planted for three successive 

 years, each time the crop being a com- 

 plete failure, when all gave it up. He 

 then waited another year and planted 

 again with good results and has secured 

 good crops every alternate year since. 

 The off year he plants corn, beans, to- 

 bacco, etc., and gets good use of the 

 land. He naively says that cotton yields 

 so abundantly that one ought to be satis- 

 fied with planting every other year. 



From Sehor Tirado we also obtained 

 five varieties of Indian corn that are ad- 

 mirably adapted to dry conditions. They 

 mature here in from 40 to 60 days. 



Grain weevils are a serious pest at 

 Rosario, and Sehor Tirado has adopted 



several ingenious methods to prevent 

 their ravages. He protects beans by 

 storing them in cow-hides, which are 

 sewed up and the seams sealed with 

 lime. He states that they will keep in- 

 definitely in packages of this kind. 



A common custom in these regions is 

 to plant a climbing species of bean in 

 the corn fields soon after the corn is 

 planted. The short-season corn matures 

 and is doubled before the beans make 

 much growth, and as soon as the corn 

 is harvested the stalks serve as poles for 

 the beans. 



From Rosario we proceeded to Tuxtla, 

 spending several clays en route. Here 

 we were introduced to the Governor of 

 Chiapas, who gave us letters of intro- 

 duction to the various alcaldes and 

 leading men of the towns which we 

 were to visit. He also sent telegraphic 

 orders to these officials that they pre- 

 pare quarters for us and aid us in every 

 way possible. There is so little travel 

 in this part of the country that without 

 such aid it is often difficult to secure 

 men or animals. We also met a number 

 of influential people who were interested 



