TAR AHUM All INDIANS. 195 
approach. The more civilized elect their 
own chiefs and obey their executive man¬ 
dates so well, as a general thing, that 
there is really very little reason for the 
Mexicans to force their officials upon 
them, if their only object is a mainte¬ 
nance of peace. Still the half-wild tribes 
of some parts of the mountains even war 
against each other without asking the 
Mexican Government yes or no, and con¬ 
clude their own treaties as a result of 
such quarrels on their own basis. I was 
informed by Mr. Alberto Mendoza, a 
perfect master of both Spanish and Eng¬ 
lish, and an interpreter at one of the big 
Sierra Madres silver mines, where there 
also was employed an excellent Tara- 
humari interpreter, that such a war as I 
have described recently broke out and 
was carried on by two factions in adjoin- 
