NOTES ON SOUTHERN MEXICO 



313 



every case examined this opening was 

 closed by the web of a small jumping 

 spider ( Aysha minuta) . The protection 

 thus afforded, though by no means so 

 complete as in the case of the bolls, is 

 still very effective. Practically the only 

 time that the weevils can gain access to 

 the bud is just as the flower is opening 

 the bracts. The only use that is made of 

 this cotton here is in the decoration of 

 the altars which every house contains at 

 Christmas time. 



Although the country from Tuxtla to 

 Chiapas showed every indication of being 

 subject to severe drought, almost all the 

 land is under cultivation. Corn and 

 henequen are the principal crops. This 

 district is very densely populated, the 

 houses, each in a small yard, being so 

 thick along the road that the impression 

 is given of a continuous town all the way 

 from Chiapas to Rivera de Cupia. At 

 this point the road leaves the Chiapas 

 River, and the country gradually rises 

 and becomes still drier. 



Near El Faro the land was more 

 open, with sufficient grass to support 

 numbers of cattle, the raising of which 

 is the principal industry. It being Christ- 

 mas eve, there was a demonstration in 

 the church at the hacienda, after which, 

 amid fireworks and the beating of drums, 

 an image of the Child was carried to the 

 bank of the river, where the entire popu- 

 lation remained until daybreak. 



The town of San Bartolome is old 

 and very picturesque. The buildings are 

 of stone, with tile or thatched roofs, and 

 the streets are paved with large flat 

 stones. All the vacant spaces between 

 the houses are filled with high stone 

 walls, so that the streets are narrow 

 alleys of stone. 



In the plaza are the ruins of an old 

 church, the nave of which has been en- 

 tirely destroyed by earthquakes, leaving 

 only the towers. There is a large Indian 

 population in and about the town who 

 speak the Tzotzil language. 



Cotton is grown by both the Indians 

 and the Mexicans, and is planted only in 

 alternate years. This custom is probably 

 an aboriginal one and the Mexicans copy 

 it from the Indians. No one could be 

 found who had the faintest idea as to 



why the cotton failed to do well if 

 planted every year. It is another in- 

 stance of primitive people being right in 

 practice without knowing the reason 

 why. Unfortunately this was the year 

 in which no cotton was planted, and the 

 only place where cotton was being grown 

 at the time of our visit was at San Sebas- 

 tian, a finca located about three leagues 

 southeast of San Bartolome. 



Here the corn is planted about the 

 middle of May, the cotton in /\ugust, 

 and the beans in September — all in the 

 same field. The corn is doubled in No- 

 vember or early December and remains 

 in this condition until after the cotton is 

 picked, so that the harvesting of the corn 

 may not injure the cotton. 



Our visit was well timed for the study 

 of this cotton, as the bolls were just be- 

 ginning to open. Weevils were present 

 in great abundance on all the cotton 

 bushes, which were five or six feet high, 

 but it was nevertheless apparent that a 

 good crop would be secured. The bulk 

 of the crop is set on the long basal 

 branches close to the ground, where the 

 bolls are practically exempt from the at- 

 tacks of the weevils. 



There could be little doubt that the 

 plant protected itself from the weevils 

 by bearing its crop close to the ground, 

 as hardly a punctured square or boll 

 could be found except on the upper part 

 of the plant. The crop was said to be 

 not unusually large, but it would compare 

 very favorably with anything I have seen 

 in the United States. We were told that 

 in ordinary years it is necessary to pick 

 50 yards of a row in order to secure one 

 arroba, or 25 pounds, of seed cotton. As 

 the cotton is planted one yard each way, 

 this would amount to 2,420 pounds seed 

 cotton per acre, or about 800 pounds of 

 lint. This seems an incredibly large yield 

 for land that was also producing a crop 

 of corn and beans, but from the appear- 

 ance of the plants I am inclined to believe 

 that it is not far from right. The region 

 toward the river, where cotton is grown 

 only in alternate years, is said to produce 

 even larger crops. 



The yield of corn at San Sebastian 

 must have been correspondingly large. 

 The hills were planted at the same dis- 



