_mesas_, or _cerros
de la mesa_ (table hills). The archaeologists of the province, in
speaking of the hill in question--which simply bore the name of
_Cerro-de-la-mesa_--declared it to be an ancient shrine of the
Zapoteques. Tradition says that a temple once stood upon it; but, if
so, it must have been constructed of very perishable materials; since no
ruin testifies to the truth of this tradition. Costal, however,
believed it, for the _tigrero_, though apparently a Christianised
Indian, was still a faithful believer in many of the pagan rites of his
fathers; and, influenced by a superstitious feeling, he was in the habit
of sleeping upon the summit of the _Cerro-de-la-mesa_, whenever the
necessities of his calling compelled him to remain over night in that
neighbourhood. A little hut which he had constructed out of bamboos,
with the broad leaves of bananas thrown over it for thatch, served him
sufficiently well for this occasional and temporary shelter.

Costal had told Clara no more than the truth. He was descended from the
ancient Caciques of Tehuantepec; and, while wandering through the midst
of the solitary savannas, the falling grandeur of his ancient race was
often the subject of his thoughts. Perfectly indifferent to the
political quarrels of the whites, he would have regarded the new
insurrection of Hidalgo without the slightest interest or enthusiasm;
but another motive had kindled within his breast the hope that in the
end he might himself profit by the revolutionary movement, and that by
the aid of the gold which he vainly dreamt of one day discovering, he
might revive in his own person the title of Cacique, and the sovereignty
which his ancestors had exercised. The pagan doctrines in which he had
been brought up, the solitudes in which he dwelt while engaged in his
calling of tiger-hunter, the contemplation of the boundless sea, whose
depths he had often explored--for previous to his becoming a _tigrero_
he had long practised the perilous profession of a pearl-diver--all
these circumstances had contributed to give to his character a tone of
singular exaltation which bordered upon frenzy.

Visionary dreamer though he was, he had acquired as much ascendancy over
the negro Clara as ever Don Quixote had over his squire Sancho Panza.
Nay more, for, unlike the _Manchego_ gentleman, he might easily have
persuaded his black associate that windmills were giants, since the
latter had already taken a captain