178 CAVE AND CUFF DWELLERS. 
far as their relations with Mexico have 
been concerned, they nevertheless were 
not wanting in the elements that made 
them good defenders of their land ; and 
the Apaches, so dreaded by others, gave 
the mountainous country of the Tarahu- 
maris a wide berth when on their raids in 
this direction. The Tarahumaris, equally 
armed, which they seldom were, were 
more than a match for these Bedouins of 
the boundary line between our own coun¬ 
try and Mexico. One who had ever seen 
a group of the wild Tarahumaris would 
not credit them with a warlike or ag¬ 
gressive disposition, or even with much 
of the defensive combativeness that is 
necessary to fight for one’s country. Even 
the semi-civilized among them are shy 
and bashful to a point of childishness that 
1 have never seen elsewhere among Indi- 
