backs of the animals as soon as the packs or saddles are taken off--a
precaution which is very beneficial, as it strengthens the skin and
prevents inflammation and sores. In the Southwest they do not wash
their beasts of burden until the mischief is done and they have to
allay the swelling and heal up the cuts. If not properly cared for
from the beginning, the animals will soon be ailing; some grow unfit
for service, and much time is lost mornings and evenings curing their
sores. Through the carelessness of some packers I lost several valuable
mules from such wounds. In summer the blue-bottle fly aggravates
the annoyance, as it lays its eggs in the open spaces of the skin,
and maggots develop in a very short time. Of course there are many
ways of ridding an animal of this pest, but here, as everywhere,
the proverbial ounce of prevention is better than the pound of cure.

A curious case of a man whose life was threatened by a blue-bottle
fly and its maggots came to nay notice. He was a soldier, and once in
a fight he had his nose cut off so that the nostrils became entirely
exposed. One night when he was asleep, drunk, a fly laid its eggs in
his nose, and when these were hatched it seemed as if the man was to
be eaten up alive. I gave him some relief by syringing the parts with
a solution of corrosive sublimate. Then an intelligent Mexican, who
had an extensive knowledge of the numberless native medicinal plants
(many of which, no doubt, are very valuable), treated the patient,
and in two days the poor wretch seemed to be in a fair way to be saved.

Near Granados I heard of some petroglyphs, or rock-carvings, and
sent Mr. Stephen to examine them. The Mexicans called them "Painted
Face." They were to be found only two miles and a half to the northwest
of the town, and were interesting. The designs were rudely pecked on
the moderately smooth felsite cliffs on a nearly perpendicular wall