Feb. 2, iQOt-l 
FOREST AND^ STREAM. 
of his undoing. The coroner's jury of two rendered a 
verdict of "Death from hangin' by a hitchin' rope. He 
done it on purpose." 
They interred him in a remote corner of the woods, 
and Saunders' eyes were moist as they turned away from 
the newly made grave that marked the black mule's 
final resting place. 
Hiram mounted his old hay mare in silence and rode 
thoughtfully homeward; Saunders shut himself up in his 
lonely cabin and composed an epitaph. He fastened 
together some pieces of board from the broken barnyard 
gate, and with infinite pains burned the letters and words 
of the epitaph thereon. 
The next day the grave of "that mule o' Saunders' " 
was marked by a wooden headboard on which were 
written these lines: 
HERE LiZE SATiN 
THE MENEST AN BiGEST 
MULE iN DUGLAS CONTY 
HE HUNG HiSEF AN DUN 
ME OWT UV 40$ AN A BAY 
MARE. 
Fayette Durlin, Jr. 
Notes from the TraiL 
On the morning of Oct. i we left the Valley of the 
Rio Aras at Santo Tomas, Chihuahua, and started 
boldly westward into the Sierra de Jesus Maria, bound 
for the Rio Mayo and Sinaloa. We left civilization be- 
hind us; for exactly three weeks we saw no track of 
wagon or cart or anything wider than a burro trail, and 
during those three weeks we traveled each day as much 
as our mules could stand. 
The first day after leaving Santo Tomas was passed 
without seeing either Mexican or Indian, but about 10 
o'clock of the second day we came to a beautiful little 
valley on the Rio Verdi. A few stone houses marked 
the site of the village of Carriaziachic, and from the caves 
on the mountain side curled smoke. The Verdi, which 
wandered leisurely among the cornfields, was fairly well 
sprinkled with pintals, gadwells and teal, and it took but 
a short time to shoot enough for several' meals. Then 
we noticed, for the first time, that all the people whom 
we had seen working in the field when we entered the 
valley had mysteriously disappeared. All our hammering 
at the house doors brought no response. We were literally 
in a deserted village, tlalf a mile further on we surprised 
a family out of doors. Instantly the man sank out of 
sight, while the woman and boy hastily gathered together 
their goats and drove them up the mountain side into 
a cave back of their dwelling. We pursued, and when the 
woman found that we were not Mexicans, and were per- 
fectly harmless, the animals were allowed to come out 
and graze, and the paterfamilias came from the corn- 
field where he had concealed himself. Except for his 
dilapidated hat he was absolutely devoid of clothing. 
He could talk a few words of Spanish, and a trifling 
present made him very communicative. The village Car- 
riaziachic is the most northern town of the Tarahumaria, 
the descendants of the ancient cave dwellers. Some live 
in stone houses, but the majority stay with the ancestral 
habitations. They are afraid of strangers, especially of 
Mexicans, who are wont to swoop down upon them as 
the Turk is said to do upon the poor Armenian. Corn 
is their only agricultural product. For everything else 
they depend upon fishing and hunting. They claim the 
headwaters of the Yaqui, Mayo, Fuerte and Sinaloa rivers 
and their territory extends southward into the mountains 
of Durango. The old man reported the country as being 
great for deer, and in watching for one I became so in- 
terested in a natural history lesson that I forgot to take 
advantage of an exceJlent opportunity. 
It came about in this way: On the top of a hill near 
by, surrounded by heavy timber, was a bare spot, an 
acre or two in extent. It was so marked by tracks and 
iresh sign.>, and we had seen so many white^ flags disap- 
pear unceremoniously in the underbrush, that I concluded 
that this was a good place to conceal myself for an hour 
and let the procession pass on. On the bare ground, 
about thirty yards from where I sat, was curled a large 
rattler enjoying a sun bath. There was a rustling in the 
bushes opposite, and a spring fawn came in sight. It 
did not see me, but it saw the snake; stopped a moment 
trembling, then sprang with all four feet upon the reptile, 
bounding safely to quite a distance beyond, where it 
turned and surveyed the damage that it had done. The 
snake writhed, that was all. Its back was broken, and it 
was too badly cut up to be capable of mitch harm. The 
fawn approached slowly, sniffed of its victim, and once 
more leaped upon it. this time bounding backward in- 
stead of forward. Five limes it repeated the operation 
and then it stalked off with a self-satisfied air, while I 
entirely forgot that my business was to secure fresh meat. 
During the remainder of that week we rambled among 
the mountain tops, amid pines and where the scenery was 
similar to that of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado. 
At noon, Saturday, Oct. 6, we were 7,900 feet above sea 
level. Then we commenced to drop through a steep and 
narrow canon. The pines disappeared, and the perpen- 
dicular walls, that towered to the very skies, were draped 
with adiantum, nothalaena and other delicate ferns, with 
giant creepers and with gorgeous festoons of red and 
yellow flowers. At 4 o'clock we reached the mining camp 
of Jesus Maria, elevation 5.600 feet, where an orange 
grove, figs and citron in the market place and a tem- 
perature resembling that of Tophet assured us that we 
were nearing the tierra caliente. The next day's climatic 
changes were yet more noticeable, for after climbing to 
an altitude of 7,200 feet, we made camp at night on one 
of the tributaries of the Mayo, only 1,700 feet above the 
. sea level, and feasted on a fruit that I suppose to be a 
species of guava. Down the river we made our way for 
ten days, piloted by an Indian guide. Mexicans were as 
scarce as Americans, and Wara-wari huts thatched with 
palm leaves were the only habitations. 
The scenery along the Rio Mayo, where it breaks 
through the main chain of the Sierra Madre, is grand 
beyond description. At times the walls rise perpendic- 
ularly from the raging torrent to a height of thousands 
of feet, and again, where the river widens into a peaceful 
stream, the hills recede more gradually from either bank 
and from water's edge to mountain top exhibit the char- 
asteristic flora of the tropics, warm teinperature and 
temperate zones. 
The Mayo aboitnds in fisb, large catfish and a smaller 
fish, about a foot in length, that very much resembles the 
eastern dace. Owing to recent rains the waters were 
high and muddy, but grasshoppers were a fairly good 
bait and a monster crawfish (eight to ten inches long) 
which our guide procui-ed for us proved to be a line 
beyond compare. 
At length we tired of the river. In forditig bur packs 
had been soaked enough times to satisfy us, and our tents 
were beginning to mildew; so, about thirty miles north 
of Alamos, Sonora, we left the Mayo and the mountains 
and commenced to journey through a rolling, bushy 
country— hot and dusty. It seemed like a chaparral 
waste. The change in flora and fauna was sudden and 
marked. Our diet now consists of rabbits and partridge 
(Culiipepla elegans, Less.). Evidently the latter have 
never been hunted, for they are too easy for right good 
sport. I i<| 
One of the most interesting birds in this region is 
Audubon's caracara {Polyhorus cheriway, Jacq.L Like 
the partridge it has no fear of man. It is usualy found 
in pairs or in flocks and a pair will perch on a giai?' 
cactus and sit and survey us while we ride underneath, 
near enough to touch them with an ordinary fly-rod. 
The caracara is an adept at hunting. He always stalks 
his prey. J wondered for a long time why I saw so many 
pairs walking along the ground, peering into the dense 
underbrush, and why I always found partridges near 
them. The caracara locates a brood of young birds, and 
alights some distance from them, then steals closer and 
closer,' and finally pounces upon the victim with a spring 
wherein the feet rather than the wings furnish the motive 
power. 
Just at sundown, last evening, while crossing a low 
range of hills some twenty miles south of Fuerte, Sinaloa, 
a flight of parrots, entirely new to us, made a most deaf- 
ening clatter. They proved to be the white fronted 
parrot (Amasona albifrons, Sparrem.). We found them 
at least three degrees north of Mazatlan, which is given in 
Ridgway as their northern limit. I ruined two skins this 
morning, and then concluded that if I should stop work 
long enough to write to Forest and Stream, I might 
have better luck with my third. By the way the shadows 
are lengthening, it is time to recommence operations. 
Shoshone. 
ILHiLLs OF .Sinaloa, Oct. 28, 
Welsh Indians* 
It is a curious fact that among our grandfathers there 
was a general belief that in the far West was a tribe of 
Indians of Welsh descent who still used the Welsh lan- 
guage in greater or less purity. These Indians were be- 
lieved to be descendants of the companions of Madoc, 
who is said to have discovered the coast of America and 
formed settlements here in the year 1 170, This belief 
was founded upon the evidence of several individuals 
who had been among those savages and heard them use 
the Welsh language. Faith, in these days, demands a 
more vigorous demonstration of facts than in former 
times. Travelers' tales at second or third hand were 
then considered good enough for all purposes. There 
was no disputing anything that appeared in a book. 
The most circumstantial account of the Welsh-speak- 
ing Indians that we have come across is in a little book, 
now very rare, "Journal of a Two Months' - Tour," by 
the Rev. Charles Beatty, London, 1768. Mr. Beatty was 
a Presbyterian minister who had been sent out by the 
Synod of New York and Philadelphia in the year 1766 
to examine into the religious state and needs of the 
people on the frontier. He says that when he was in the- 
western part of Pennsylvania he met with one Benjamin 
Sutton, who had been taken captive by the Indians, and 
had lived many years among them in dift'erent parts of 
the country. He stated that when he was with the Choc, 
taw Nation, on the Mississippi he went to an Indian 
town a very considerable distance from New Orleans, 
where he fell in with a tribe of Indians who spoke the 
Welsh language. Fie said that he saw a book among 
them which he supposed was a Welsh Bi, 'e, of which 
they took the greatest care, though they were not able 
to read it. He said further that he had heard them speak 
Welsh to one Lewis, a Welshman, a captive there. 
Another man, who had lived among the Indians from 
his youth, also informed Mr. Beatty that he had been 
among Indians on the west side of the Mississippi who 
spoke the Welsh language; while the Indian interpreter 
who accompanied the reverend gentleman on his mission 
also assured him that he had been among Indians who 
spoke Welsh, and in proof of it he gave some words 
which he said were Welsh. Mr. Beatty further remarks 
that there were other traditions current in his day of 
certain captives who had been among Welsh-speaking 
Indians, one a Welsh clergj'man who had been captured 
while traveling "through the back parts of the country." 
This gentleman, while earnestly praying in ' his native 
language in view of a speedy death to which he had been 
condemned, was understood by the savages standing 
around him, who instantly reversed the sentence of death; 
"and thus this happy circumstance was the means of 
saving his life." They then showed him a book, which 
he found to be a Bible, but which they could not read. 
"He .stayed among them some time, and endeavored to 
instruct them in the Christian religion. He at length 
proposed to go back to his own country and return to 
them with some other teachers, who would be able to 
mstruct them in their own language, to which proposal 
they consenting, he accordingly set out from thence, and 
arrived in Britain with full intention to return to them 
with some of his countrymen, in order to teach these 
Indians Christianity. But I was acquainted that not 
long after his arrival he was taken sick and died, which 
put an end to his scheme." 
But Mr. Beatty is not the only authority in point for 
the fact of Welsh-speaking natives in America. In a 
book, "Primitive Ages," by the Rev. Theophilus Evans, 
a Welsh minister, translated by Rev. George Roberts, and 
published in Ebensburg, Pa., in 1834. we find assurance 
of the same fact. He states that the Rev. Mergan Jones, 
of Tredegar, in Monmouthshire, while traveling through 
the wildei-ness of America, in the year 1660, was taken 
prisoner by the Indians. Possibly it is the same incident 
related by Mr. Beatty. He was discovered to be a 
Welshman in the same manner as related by the latter; 
whereupon the chief approached him and addressing him 
m the Welsh language assured him that his life should 
be spared. He was treated by the Indians with the 
greatest kindness. He remained among them four 
months, preaching the gospel to them in the Welsh 
tongue three times a week. Mr. Evans, who seems to have 
been thoroughly familiar with the ancient history and 
traditions of his native country, says that many of Madoc's 
companions remained in America and married women of 
the country; and that they had kept themselves apart 
Irom the other tribes and preserved their native tongue. 
To all this the query arises, What degree of truth is in 
these traditions? It would seem to be quite improbable 
that statements made with such particularity by different 
individuals kad no foundation in fact; at the same time 
the other question occurs, What became of these Welsh- 
speaking Indians, that they- have not been discovered 
by modern travelers? T. J. Chapman. 
Mrs. Mark Piper's Gardens. 
The Pipers are a large family, and they are a family 
that pride themselves greatly on their personality. Perhaps 
it is not so much the Pipers themseves as it is their 
wives, but particularly Mrs. Mark Piper. Two years 
ago she insisted on baying a strip of land on Grand 
River, where her husband goes to fish for muskalonge. 
Mrs. David Piper demurred, and Mrs. John said that 
it was a crazy thing to do. Mrs. Mark named her place 
"The Gardens." "Gardens of what?" asked Mrs. John. 
"Come over and see," answered Mrs. Mark, pleasantly. 
It was not until Mrs. Mark had owned the place two 
summers that Mrs. John and Mrs. David decided to 
drive over and call on the eccentric sister-in-law. 
"I knew you always thought it a foolish thing for me 
to do," said Mrs. Mark, after she had made her guests 
welcome, "but I always thought that I wanted a garden. 
I was not quite sure about it. When Mr. Barber said I 
could have this land and the old school house with it for 
three hundred dollars, I just said I would take it. Really 
it was nothing when you think how much the boys spend 
when they go off on a fishing trip." 
"Certainly,"repliedMrs. John, "butyouhave no company 
here at all. Seems to me you must find it dismal." 
"It is only during the children's vacation. I would not 
have the heart to be dismal anywhere with them, and 
here they, are sti occupied that I am never in a worry 
about them." 
"What do they do?" asked Mrs. John. 
Mrs. Mark laughed as she replied: "Well, Johnny is 
head gardener, Martha is housekeeper, and Bruce takes 
care of the live stock." 
"And pray what do you do yourself?" queried Mrs. 
David. 
"Keep the books, make the children take their work 
seriously and pay them seventy-five cents a week and 
their board." 
"And you have the temerity to call this a vacation!" 
exclaimed Mrs. David. 
"Come outside and see the gardens." was the gracious 
answer. "You see we have ju.st as litttle inside the house as 
we can, so that we are not crowded at all, and it simplifies 
the work for Martha. Of course I wipe the dishes, and 
help her, but she thinks she has all the responsibility. 
It is her especial pride to have the meals on time, and 
we get very hungry working in the gardens all the 
morning." As they went out the door and off the wide 
porch that faced the east, they stepped upon a graveled 
path that wound among some flowering bushes and led 
to the river bank. 
"John built that porch when he was over last summer 
fishing." continued Mrs. Mark, laughing. 
"You surely don't mean my John!" exclaimed Mrs. 
John. 
"To be sure. What other John?" 
"He never thinks he can mend a door knob at home." 
"Well, I didn't ask him. The first thing I knew there 
was a load of stuff here, and John was bossing Mark 
around like a head carpenter." I don't think, mvself, 
that it is quite plumb," she said, as she looked dubiouslv 
at the floor; "higher on one end than at the other. John 
says if we will get stones together for a foundation 
he will lay it this fall, and that will straighten it." 
It is useless to attempt to convey to the reader the 
charm of Mrs, Mark's gardens. Things had grown for 
her as the might have done for a trained gardener — 
flowers and vegetables. 
"It is all very beautiful," exclaimed Mrs. David, "but 
seems to me it is lacking in system." 
"Yes, I think it is, but it interests the children more 
than if the gardens were laid out regularly as Mr. Barber 
said I should do when I begged him to plow around the 
bushes and to make separate beds for things in level 
spots along the bank. Don't you see how pretty the 
lettuce is against that bank of moss? I like the flowers 
tucked away in unexpected places. I would have them 
in masses. You see the gardens are mostly along the 
river. It is pleasanter for the children. Up near the 
road is meadow, and Mr. Barber takes care of that. 
Really it costs us so little to live here, and there are so 
many things we do not buy that we would if we stayed in 
town, that Mark is beginning to count it all as a great 
economy, and he has about stopped laughing at me about 
it." 
"It is pretty, any way," said Mrs. John, with real feeling, 
'and I do think it has been shabby in me not to have 
looked at the matter from your point of view. Really I 
did not know how." 
"The children have a boat, and there is a small island 
just aroimd the bend of the river. They play Robinson 
Crusoe, and they have a cave in the gardens where I 
understand a great many things are concealed, some gold 
and a; few bags of diamonds. Then they fish. Johnny 
caught a ten-pound muscalonge last week. Last j^eaV 
he caught turtles and shipped a barrel of them to Pkts- 
burg. They learn a great deal more than they would 
