The mode of cultivating the vineyards in this region is simple. The vines are covered in winter with earth, are kept clear from weeds, hoed and pruned at the proper season, but they are not attached to stakes or espaliers. The soil and climate are so genial that less labor is required than in other countries; but a great deal of the fertility of the beautiful valley must be ascribed to the ingenious system of irrigation, which is produced by a dam constructed in the river above El Paso, which turns a large body of water into a canal. This canal, spreading into numerous branches and re-uniting again, provides all the cultivated land with a sufficiency of moisture.
Some remains of antiquity are found in the north-western part of the State, lying near the village and creek of the Casas Grandes, between Janos and Galeana. Ruins of large houses, known as "Casas Grandes" in the language of the country, exist in this neighborhood, built of sun-dried bricks, or adobes, and squared timber. They are three stories high with a gallery of wood and stairway from the exterior, with very small rooms and narrow doors in the upper stories but without means of entrance in the lower. Water was brought to the spot from a neighboring spring by a canal; and a watch-tower, commanding an extensive prospect, stands on an elevation two leagues south-west of it. A series of mounds, containing earthen vessels, weapons, instruments of stone, and fragments of white, blue and violet colored pottery, extends along the banks of the Casas Grandes and Janos creeks.
The State of Chihuahua has suffered and still suffers greatly and constantly' from the incursions of the barbarians who ravage her frontiers and descend boldly into the very heart of the settlements. The uncertainty of life and insecurity of property have, of course, prevented the development of a region so valuable for its mineral and agricultural resources; nor is it likely that any sensible progress will be made until the four warring tribes of Gileños, Mesclaros, Mimbreños and Lipanes, are destroyed by the advance of the civilized nations from the north as well as from the south.
A recent Mexican author, in describing the condition of Chihuahua, declares that at "present every hacienda must be converted into a castle of the middle ages, every shepherd into a soldier:—proprietors of estates enjoy no security of their possessions, and the common people gather themselves into villages to escape from the exposed country in which they must become the victims of the blood-thirsty savages and robbers from the wilderness."
