Page:Memoir of a tour to northern Mexico.djvu/59

Rh State so isolated in the interior of a large country, with a very thin population, without any navigable river, receiving most of its merchandise either by the long Santa Fe trail from the United States or far from the interior of Mexico, or but occasionally by direct importation from the seaports on the Pacific, has certainly no claim to commercial advantages. But if, in the course of years, a shorter communication should be opened with the seashore by a good, direct road to the Rio Grande; if the indolent Mexicans should be spurred on to greater industrial energy by their go-ahead neighbors; if the Indians, the very scourge of the country, should be driven out or extirpated by some companies of Texas rangers; if oppressive laws and monopolies should be supplanted by free competition of industry, the State would soon be productive and rich enough to exchange every year many millions of goods with the seashore, as well as with the interior.

The population of the State, exclusive of the wild Indians, was

At present it is estimated at from 150 to 160,000 inhabitants, which number would give about 1.3 for each English square mile. The greater part of the people are of Indian descent, though some have preserved their pure Castilian blood. The settlements generally commenced and progressed with the discovery of mines. The oldest town in the State is Santa Barbara, (near Parral,) whose mines were discovered in 1556. About 1600, the town contained 7,000 inhabitants, who were mostly occupied in the gold mines, which produced then from 12 to 14 ounces of gold in the carga. Afterwards Parral was settled, Santa Eulalia, Cieneguilla, Cosihuiriachi, etc. The numerous Indians that in former years occupied the country have greatly diminished. Some of them have become Christians, and lead in their separate villages (pueblos) a poor and miserable life; others are untamed vet, and roam restless about, living by hunting and depredations upon the Mexicans. Those hostile Indians are principally the Apaches, a very general denomination, comprising the following related tribes: Tontos, Chirocahues, Faraones, Llaneros, Navajoes, Gileños, Mimbrerños, Mezcaleros, and Lipanes. The four latter tribes live only within the State of Chihuahua, and carry on a continual warfare against its inhabitants. All the warriors of these four tribes are not estimated at more than 1,400; nevertheless, this small number has ruined the industry and impeded the progress of the State so completely, that it more energetic measures are not taken, the Mexicans will yet become the vassals of these savage hordes.

In the northwestern part of the State of Chihuahua some old ruins are found, built, no doubt, by a cultivated Indian tribe that has passed away. They are known as Casas Grandes, and lie near the village and creek of the same name, between Janos and Galeana. Ruins ct large houses exist here, built of adobes and wood, squared, three stories high, with a gallery of wood, and staircase from the outside, with very small rooms and narrow doors in the upper stories, but without entrance in the lower. A canal led the water of a spring to the place. A sort of watch-tower stands two