The Tarahumaris are not a sociable people, nor are they industrious, for they like too well to lie on their backs or breasts in the hot sun. They are great runners and have been known to run day after day, stopping only to eat and secure some necessary sleep. When they are travelling across the country one will seldom see them walking. Even on a mountain trail they usually keep up a trot. I have seen them running up a steep path where most of us would not want to walk very long without stopping to rest. The chief men of the tribes carry canes as their emblem of authority. If a man is charged with an offence a messenger is sent to him, armed with a cane made of red Brazil wood, and the person summoned would not dare to disobey the order. No writ issued by any court in a civilized land commands greater obedience. It is generally the older men who are entrusted with this badge of authority, and they are very jealous of the privilege. This method of designating authority is quite common among the aborigines of the Americas. The Tarahumaris are very superstitious. They are afraid to travel after night because the dead are supposed to be abroad at that time. The _shaman_, as the medicine man is called, is a man of great importance among these superstitious people. He is always present at all family celebrations, such as weddings and funerals, and he is generally called in when there is sickness in the family. About one hundred and fifty miles southwest of El Paso, in the state of Chihuahua, is a colony of considerable interest to Americans. After travelling that number of miles of semi-desert land over the Rio Grande and Sierra Madre Railway from Ciudad Juarez, as dreary a landscape as one could imagine, the appearance suddenly changes as one approaches the lands of the Mormon colony that has settled here. Fearful of the results of the anti-polygamy agitation in the United States a few hundred followers of Brigham Young banded together, and sought a new “promised land.” They travelled in caravans that contained all their worldly goods until they crossed the border into Mexico. Here they were welcomed, for farmers are what northern Mexico needed, and religious or ethical questions did not disturb the Mexican government. The colonists were exempted from taxes for ten years, and their implements were allowed free entry. Each colonist was granted a certain number of acres at low interest and on easy terms.