DWELLERS IN WOODS AND FORESTS. 25 



last for three years, when another piece is 

 cleared in the same way. Every rancho has 

 its fowls, and often wild turkeys. The man, 

 after he has sowed, has all his time to him- 

 self ; he mostly possesses a tame cow or two, 

 to find him in milk, curds, and a coarse 

 cheese ; they feed in the forest, and cost him 

 nothing ; he fishes in the river, now and then 

 kills a deer, traps a rabbit, and is always on 

 the look out for iguanas and their eggs ; 

 brings home sometimes a wild pig ; he very 

 often possesses a young horse or mule, that he 

 breaks for the journey he makes once or 

 twice a-year to some large town, where he 

 sells it ; he looks after his own horse or two 

 that he rides about on, hunts bees, and pre- 

 serves the wax, using the honey at home ; 

 and when the day comes for him to go to the 

 town, he leads his colt and takes his wax 

 there, where he sells them both, the latter to 

 make tapers for the Virgin Mary and saints, 

 and returns home with a flare-up piece of 

 chintz for his wife and daughters, and apiece 

 of strong linen for his Sunday white trowsers 

 and shirt ; and is altogether as superior to 

 the townsman, both physically and morally, 

 as an English gamekeeper is to many of our 

 squalid operatives of Wigan and Manchester. 



