In the evenings the band plays in the Plaza de Armes, the central garden in front of the governor’s palace, and all the young folk turn out. The girls all walk in pairs in a long line one way, and the young men in pairs also walk in an outer ring the other way, so that at every round they can see and make eyes at the particular fair one. Only in Chihuahua is this rule relaxed, and the young men and women are allowed to walk together. But then Chihuahua is near the American border, and most of the boys and girls are placed in American schools, so that it is almost an American city with American customs. The architecture of the new part of the city is American, and the houses of the rich are built on large plots surrounded by gardens and trees. As the Mexican law does not recognise a religious marriage, it is always necessary to have two ceremonies—one before the judge and one before the priest, but the only binding one is that performed by the judge. Another custom which I think is peculiar to this country, at least I have never seen it in Catholic Canada, is that of kissing the priests’ hands on the street. This is not only done by the poor but by almost all classes. The church, though not recognised by law in this country, has yet an enormous power, especially amongst the poorer classes. Our labourers are always willing to work on a national holiday in case of necessity, but they cannot be persuaded to do so on any saint’s day, and the number of these days is considerable. One reason for this hold that the clergy have on the Indian is the way that they have grafted the Catholic faith on the superstitions and beliefs of the Indians, instead of combating them. For instance, you can always tell the advent of a feast day, because the evening preceding it bombs are fired from all the church towers. Ask any Indian what it is done for, and he will tell you it is to drive away the devil. On All Souls’ Day images of Judas Iscariot, filled with powder, are sold by thousands, and at midday are all blown up. Few Indians can tell you who Judas was, and they believe it is the devil who is being so treated. Whatever the cause, the government has failed in its object of breaking the hold of the priesthood over the country. I wrote before of a thirty-acre farmer who makes $5000 net per annum in strawberries and alfalfa. Another with only three acres of strawberries, near Guadalajara, cleared in 1901 $1500 as his half share of the sale of the produce (on the _metayer_ system) from April to August. There are seven wells on the farm, with an average lift of fifteen feet, and ten cultivators, on half shares, plant, water, tend, and sell the crop.