There is also found a species of cactus, with a root which looks like
an enormous carrot. One small plant had a root four feet long. It is
used as soap.

Among the birds, doves and flycatchers were most commonly seen, one
species of the latter frequently dazzling our eyes with its brilliant
vermilion plumage.

The men I had hired before crossing the border did not work at all well
with the Mexicans. They generally considered themselves vastly superior
to the latter, whom they did not recognise as "white men." Personally,
I preferred the Mexicans, who were obedient, obliging, and less lawless
than the rough, mixed-white citizens of the American Southwest. As
an illustration of the moral status of the frontier population, I may
relate that when about sixty miles south of the border, a custom-house
official stationed in the neighbourhood insisted upon examining all my
baggage, which, of course, would have involved a lot of trouble. He
was neither worse nor better than other custom officers, who seem to
exist only to annoy people, and by the exertion of a little patience I
succeeded in settling the matter satisfactorily. But one of my foremen,
who had noticed my annoyance, came up to me and asked if I desired
"to get rid" of him; if I did, said he, he knew how he could serve
me so that nothing more would be heard from the Mexican!

I gradually weeded out this unscrupulous element among the men,
and replaced most of the American with Mexican muleteers, who are
far superior in that particular line of business. In hiring them,
only one precaution had always to be observed: never to accept one
unless he had a good recommendation from his village authorities or