CHIHUAHUA WESTWARD. 157 
towns beside the example given. In the 
town referred to we were crowded, four 
and six together, into those small pens— 
all travelers passing backward and for¬ 
ward on business connected with mining 
interests or similar industries. It seemed 
to be the universal custom of this portion 
of the country to get up at three o’clock 
to take the diligence, no matter how long 
or short the drive was to be. We were 
going only forty miles farther the next 
day to Carichic ; the diligence returned 
nearly eighty miles to Chihuahua, and 
another stage line branched off for Guer¬ 
rero, to the northwest ; but it appeared 
necessary that passengers should rise at 
the same hour in order that all the coaches 
might get away at the same time. 
The Carichic line is quite unfre¬ 
quented, and only an ordinary wagon is 
