BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

70 BARBAROUS MEXICO
a canoe alongside which his mount swims laboriously,
once by fording, a long and difficult route over which
large rocks must be avoided and deep holes kept away
from. The valley itself is as flat as a floor, clear of all
rank growth, and down its gentle slope winds the Papaloapan
river. The valley, the river and its rim form one
of the most beautiful sights it has ever been my lot to
look upon.
Valle Yacional is three (lays' journey from Cordoba,
two from El I-Iule. Stray travelers sometimes get as far
as Tuztepec, the chief city of the political district, but
no one goes on to Valle Nacional who has not business
there. It is a tobacco country, the most noted in Mexico,
and the production is carried on by about thirty large
plantations owned and operated almost exclusively by
Spaniards. Between El Hule and the head of the valley
are four towns, Tuztepec, Chiltepec, jacatepec and Valle
Nacional, all situated on the banks of the river, all provided
with policemen to hunt runaway slaves, not one
of whom can get out of the valley without passing the
towns. Tuztepec, the largest, is provided with ten policemen
and eleven rurales (mounted country police).
Besides, every runaway slave brings a reward of $10
to the man or policeman who catches and returns him
to his owner.
Thus it will be understood how much the geographical
isolation of Valle Nacional accounts for its being
just a little worse than most other slave districts of
Mexico. Combined with this may be mentioned the
complete understanding that is had with the government
and the nearness to a practically inexhaustible labor
market.
Just as in Yucatan, the slavery of Valle Nacional is
merely peonage, or labor for debt, carried to the extreme,