ON MULE-BACK FROM CARICHIC. 215 
was so far about the equal of the Alle- 
ghanies or Catskills, there was not much 
level ground for cultivation, and this was 
eagerly seized by the working natives, 
not only to raise crops for their own use, 
but to have some to sell; for from six to 
seven days’ travel to the southwest was 
the richest silver district in the world, 
where all kinds of produce brought fabu¬ 
lous prices that would have enriched an 
American farmer in one season—flour 
forty cents a pound and other things in 
proportion. Indeed one of the best dis¬ 
tinctions that could be made between the 
wild and civilized Tarahumaris is the fact 
that the former knows nothing of money 
nor makes any attempt to secure it, barter¬ 
ing directly by exchange with the civilized 
native for those things he wants and does 
not make ; while the latter makes money 
