Page:The Mexican Problem (1917).djvu/178

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
122
THE MEXICAN PROBLEM

dips, the sedimentary deposits, shales, and sands, and the basaltic and volcanic upheavals.

He dwells in a garden with one of the largest collections of palms that any man ever gathered. He knows every palm whether he sees it in his garden or on the desert. Somehow he respects the botanical names of more than a hundred palms, probably because they have no common names, but he manifests a contempt for the geological names as applied to minerals. He declares that geological names never yet found minerals or oil, nor have the geological professors been very successful in directing any one how to find them.

INDEPENDENT OF MAN OR BEAST

For many years Doheny slept on the plains and in the mountains with his rifle by his side, and he always knew exactly where his boots were, where every piece of his pack lay and what were his resources and the journey before him. He never carried water or timber if he knew where to find it. But he carried the tools in his kit that could cut or file a piece of steel, mend a rifle, and insure him independence of any man or beast on top of Mother Earth.

He believes that the minerals were originally