t the time, but which is
without a shadow of interest to-day, though it is duly emphasized and
repeated by the guides. The dome of the church was destroyed by an
earthquake so late as 1864. Near this church are the ruins of a chapel,
the facade of which is still standing, and on which are displayed the
royal arms of Spain.

Regarding the dwellings of the poorer classes of this region, as well as
of the country generally, they are of the most miserable character,
wanting in nearly all the requirements of health and comfort. They
consist of adobe-built cabins, wherein the people live, eat, and sleep
upon the bare ground, without light or ventilation, except that which
comes in through the open door, and where drainage of any sort is not
even thought of. Mud cabins on the bogs of Ireland are not poorer places
to live in. In the warmer regions, the common people live in mere huts
of cane, consisting of a few poles covered with dry plantain leaves,
palms, or cornstalks, made into a thatch by braiding and twining them
together. A mat woven of dried husks and laid upon the ground forms the
only bed. Neither chairs, tables, nor benches are seen in these
cabins,--they are unknown luxuries. In the more tropical regions of the
country, the cabins have no sides, the thatched roof coming down to near
the ground, thus forming only a screen from the rain during the season
of the year when it falls. A sort of instinct causes the common people
of the tropics to seek some sort of shelter from the stars when they
sleep; but half the Indian population of Mexico do not see the inside
even of an adobe cabin from one year's end to another. The universal
food depended upon to support life, besides the wild fruits, is the
preparation of corn called tortillas, and a few vegetable roots. The
grain is pulverized by hand between two stones, made into a paste or
dough, and eaten half baked in thin cakes. We are, of course, speaking
of the poor Indian people, but they form probably two thirds of the
population, especially in the rural districts. These natives make their
own fermented liquor. On the coast it is what they call palm wine, and
rum from sugar-cane; on the table-land, it is pulque, from the maguey
plant,--their delight and their curse. After the maguey has yielded its
sap to the last quart, and begins to wilt, there appears in the stalk a
nest of white caterpillars, which the Indians consider to be a great
luxury, and which they eat with a