I 9 6 CAVE AND CLIFF DWELLERS. 
ing parts of the mountains. It was a 
very .strange affair, of course, but I doubt 
if its existence was even known in any 
other part of Mexico. 
Singularly enough, the badge of office 
of the self-governing tribes is a scepter, 
if an ornamented stick held in the hand 
can be called a scepter. These black 
savages of the sierras obey it more im¬ 
plicitly, however, than if it were a loaded 
Gatling gun trained on them. Whenever 
a government official or justice seizes 
this mace of the Madre Mountains, and 
holds it aloft, every person in sight is 
quelled more effectually than if it were a 
stick of giant powder that would explode 
if they did not obey. Its name among 
them, translated, is “God’s Justice,” and 
certainly no superstitious people ever 
obeyed a mandate more readily and com- 
