weaving on hand looms by members of the families. Another local industry
was observed here, namely, the manufacture of fireworks of a toy
character, which we were told were shipped to all parts of the country.

The engine which had drawn our train from Puebla hither, after doing so,
managed to get derailed, and a Mexican crowd spent hours in an
ineffectual attempt to get the iron horse once more upon the track. As
the day drew to its close our party was prepared to return to Puebla;
but there was the engine stubbornly fixed upon the sleepers of the
track, and the wheels partially buried in the ground. Mexican ingenuity
was not equal to the emergency, so Yankee genius stepped forward. One
of our party conversant with such matters took charge, and by a few
judicious directions and appliances improvised upon the spot, he soon
had the heavy engine once more in its proper position, and we started
back to Puebla amid the cheers of the Mexicans at Yankee skill and
energy, which seemed to them equal to any exigency.

A branch railway takes us from Puebla to Santa Ana, from whence ancient
Tlaxcala is reached by tramway. It is the capital of the state bearing
the same name, and has some four or five thousand inhabitants; it is
credited with having had over fifty thousand three centuries ago. Had it
not been that civil discord reigned at the time of the advent of Cortez
here, he could never have conquered Montezuma; but the Tlaxcalans were
induced by cunning diplomacy to join the Spaniards, and their united
forces accomplished that which neither could have done single-handed.
One is struck by the diminutive size of the native men and women at
Tlaxcala. The latter are especially, short in stature, the never absent
baby lashed to their backs making the mothers look still shorter.

This place is remarkable for the accumulation of Aztec and Spanish
antiquities. The municipal palace, situated on the east side of the
plaza, contains four remarkable oil paintings bearing the date of the
conquest. Here also is preserved the war-worn banner of Spain, which was
carried by Cortez from the time of his first landing at Vera Cruz
throughout all his triumphant career. The material is rich, being of
heavy silk brocade, the color a light maroon, not badly faded
considering its age. Large sums of money have been offered for this
ancient and interesting banner, the object being to take it back to
Spain, from whence it came nearly four hundred year