in their inspection, and then, bidding our drunken
escort good-bye, we continued our journey. We had planned to go first to
Nehuatzen, thence to Parracho, and, after visiting Cheran, back again to
Nehuatzen. At the _mogote_, however, we were already near the Parracho
highway and at once struck into it. Our journey led through forests,
chiefly of pine, with open glades, at intervals; on many of the trees
we saw great bunches of a parasite that bore honeysuckle-like, yellow
flowers. Parracho we found lying at the base of mountains at the very
end of a long stretch of level. It is an unattractive town, our only
reason for visiting which was to see something of the manufacture of its
famous _rebozos_, which differ from others in the wide border of white
and azure blue silk, which is attached to a netted foundation to form
decorative patterns, representing birds and animals, or geometric
figures. The work is curious, and I am inclined to see in it a surviving
imitation of the ancient feather-work for which the ancient Tarascans
were famous. From Parracho our road led through Aranza to Cheran. Just
beyond Aranza we passed over the astonishing wash from some summer
torrent. During the wet season a single rain may fill the gorges, sheet
the mountain slopes with water, tear great trees from their hold, break
off mighty rock fragments and carry them onward, like wooden blocks,
with hundreds of tons of finer gravel. At this season there was not a
sign of water; not a trickling thread was visible in any of the gorges;
but from their now dried mouths there spread fan-shaped deposits many
rods in length and breadth, containing quantities of blocks of rock that
measured from four to ten feet in diameter, trunks of trees up to
two feet in thickness, all in the greatest confusion and at places
completely covering our road to a depth of several feet. We could trace
the tailing out of the fans of deposit, from their thicker, heavier part
at the base of the torrent, to their margin on the plain; from heavy
rock masses weighing tons, through smaller masses, into sand and gravel.

[Illustration: HOUSES AT URUAPAN]

The way to Cheran seemed endless, but at last we reached that
interesting, great indian town, when the afternoon was nearly spent.
It was the New Year, and the street celebration of _los negritos_ (the
negroes--or the little negroes) was in progress. As we rode through the
streets, however, we attracted much attention and the per