142 
CAVE AND CLIFF DWELLERS. 
toward the foothills of the mountains, 
although it was far more fertile and 
well watered, as the numbers of rich 
ranches along the way testified. At 
nine o’clock we stopped to eat breakfast 
and change mules. Our morning meal 
consisted of a concoction dignified by the 
name of coffee, with tortillas (the peo¬ 
ple’s bread—pancakes of coarsely ground 
corn and water) and some stale eggs 
served in battered tin dishes upon a 
rough wooden box. The stage station 
being the only house in that part of the 
country, we could not be choosers. I 
noticed, however, that the soil was of the 
richest kind and well watered, so that 
anything could have been raised. What 
a paradise could be made by energy and 
industry where nature has already done 
so much. 
