The Cave Dwellers of Mexico – 1903

Title : The Cave Dwellers of Mexico  
Author : Dr Carl Lumholz
Source : Wide World Magazine
Year Published : 1903
Page Count : 10
Image Count : 10
Word Count : 5,408
File Size in MB : 7.3
File Type : PDF

Timid as they are when alone, their aggregate courage knows no limit, and cases are known when Mexicans have had to pay with their lives the penalty of an offence. As often as not the cave is accepted as Nature made it, rough and ready; but the more fastidious add such improvements as a low stone wall, partially to close the mouth of the cavern and serving as a protection against wind and animals. Mortar is never used in the building of this rampart, but mud sometimes serves in its stead. At one side of the habitation, under the overhanging cliff, the housewife has her metate, or flat stone for grinding maize, the staple food of all Indians. In a corner or on a ledge the man keeps his bow and arrows. Privacy is secured by the distance at which the next-door neighbour lives—some three or four miles away. The cave, with its level floor, serves as parlour, sitting-room, and kitchen, and at night skins are spread in lieu of beds around the fire, which here, as always, is the greatest comfort to primitive man.