eir way to Patzcuaro. It
was a beautiful sight to see six or eight paddlers in some great canoe
keeping exact time in their movements, singing as they went. Sometimes
two canoes were raced, and laughter and excited cries accompanied
the contest. Here and there along the shores we saw little huts of
fishermen, with nets hung out to dry, or groups of men seining or
dropping dip-nets; upon many slopes were little terrace garden spots,
where modest crops were cultivated; here and there were mats lately
finished or heaps of fresh-cut rushes for their fabrication. Five hours
of good paddling brought us to Santa Fe de la Laguna, just opposite the
far more famous Tzintzuntzan, and but a little distance from the much
larger town, Quiroga. Santa Fe is quite a town, stretching for a
considerable distance along a terrace, but little elevated above the
water level. The houses are built of rather large, dark-brown, adobe
bricks; the walls are usually white plastered; the roofs of all the
houses are tiled, and the supporting rafters of the roof extend out far
beyond the front wall of the house, so that the passer on the footpath
is sheltered against rain and the noonday sun. The outer ends of these
rafters are cut to give an ornamental effect. All the houses are
surrounded by fruit trees--orange, lemon, lime, _ahuacate_ and
_chirimoya_. Each little property is surrounded by a stone wall of some
height; the gate-way through this, giving entrance to the yard, is
surmounted by a pretty little double-pitched roofing of thatch.

A crowd of pure indians had gathered at the landing, by the time we were
unloaded. Forty or fifty men and women of medium stature, dark-brown
skin and broad, expressionless faces, watched our every movement with
curiosity, but none was ready to assist us in carrying our luggage to
the _curato_. Taking it ourselves, as best we could, we found a boy to
direct us and made our way to the house. The _cura_, had gone to Quiroga
and his suspicious household would not receive us until his return,
although permitting us to leave our goods. Going to the _plaza_, we
succeeded in getting bread and cheese at a _tienda_, and after eating
loitered until, at half-past-two, the Padre Ponce made his appearance.
We showed him our letters and asked his interest and aid. He at
once made us at home in his house, summoned the officials, read the
governor's letter aloud to them, and told them it was their duty to
assist us in every way. W