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National Geographic : 1911 Mar
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NOTES ON SOUTHERN MEXICO tance as the cotton, with four or five stalks in each hill. Very few sterile stalks could be found, and most of the stalks bore two or three well formed though rather small ears. The plants be fore being doubled must have been about 8 feet high. The greater part of the inhabitants of this place are pure Indian. The men have straight, coarse, black hair reaching almost to their shoulders. The lips are thick, but otherwise the features are quite like those of the Indians of Guate mala. They wear a red cloth, tied like a turban, about the head, a short "guipil" or shirt like that of the women, and full white trousers that are usually tied in at the bottom, making them look like Dutch trousers. The women are very short and well formed. They wear a short "guipil," usually white or with very little color, and a dark-blue cloth wrapped around the hips. Their chief decoration takes the form of embroidery of this blue cloth, which they do in silk of various colors. Some of the more elaborate cloths are valued as high as $Io or $12 gold. From San Bartolome the road passes around the base of the mountain on which the town is located, and at a dis tance of about one league enters the oak forest. Soon after this the pines appear and the characteristic plants of the lower levels disappear. Our course led up the valley of a small river, along the banks of which the vege tation was more luxuriant, mahogany and cedar trees being not uncommon. At an elevation of 4,000 feet, the country became more open and Brahea palms ap peared. Our road continued to rise until it crossed a high ridge amid magnificent pines and oaks, and the town of Teopisco came into view in a flat valley entirely surrounded by high mountains. The ele vation of the town is 5,300 feet, and the night before our arrival there had been a hard frost and nearly all the vegetation was black. We spent a night at Teo pisco, and in the morning the white frost could again be seen on the ground and roofs. We left for San Cristobal early in the morning of December 31. The road con tinued to ascend and for nearly the whole day we traveled through magnificent for ests of pine and oak. The trees were very large, with little or no undergrowth, the absence of which is probably due to the sheep, which are pastured in the for est in large numbers. Toward night we crossed a high ridge, probably 7,000 feet, and descended to the valley in which San Cristobal is located. San Cristobal, like Bartolome, was at one time the capital of the State, but its inaccessibility was sufficient reason for removing the seat of government. It is more closely associated with the civiliza tion of the western part of Guatemala than with other parts of the State of Chiapas. Frost occurred every night of our stay and is usual at this time of year. Here we secured seed of a wheat which is cultivated on the very steep slopes near the tops of the mountains about the town, in the hope that the variety might be of some historic interest, this region being so isolated that the variety is prob ably one that has been grown here from very remote times. Seeds of a fine avocado were secured. As this entire region is subject to frost, snow sometimes falling at San Cristobal, the variety will probably prove to be re sistant to cold. The exact locality from which the fruit came could not be ascer tained, but trees were seen which had withstood the frost better than orange trees and where most of the vegetation was killed back. There is a considerable Indian popula tion about San Cristobal. They dress in coarse woolen blankets with a hole for the head, or in short woolen shirts. They wear very low-crowned straw hats deco rated with ribbons, which give them a very ludicrous appearance. The stream ers on the hats indicate that the man is unmarried and has a sweetheart. We started on our return for Tuxtla on the morning of January 2, taking the road that leads through Ixtapa. The road descends steadily. For a long distance practically the only trees are the oaks, and for three or four leagues these have been pollarded to secure fire-wood 315
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