One small plant had a root four feet long.

It is used as soap.
Among the birds, doves and flycatchers were most commonly seen, one species of the latter frequently dazzling our eyes with its brilliant vermilion plumage.
The men I had hired before crossing the border did not work at all well with the Mexicans.

They generally considered themselves vastly superior to the latter, whom they did not recognise as "white men." Personally, I preferred the Mexicans, who were obedient, obliging, and less lawless than the rough, mixed-white citizens of the American Southwest.

As an illustration of the moral status of the frontier population, I may relate that when about sixty miles south of the border, a custom-house official stationed in the neighbourhood insisted upon examining all my baggage, which, of course, would have involved a lot of trouble.

He was neither worse nor better than other custom officers, who seem to exist only to annoy people, and by the exertion of a little patience I succeeded in settling the matter satisfactorily.