imals; in my town there is great enthusiasm over
your work, and by going there you might do your will and find people
with minds, not beasts." There was really no work left to be done, but
we desired to see a town where there was great enthusiasm over our
investigations. Hence, we arranged with Ignacio Cempoalteca to visit his
pueblo of San Nicolas Panotla. Accordingly, on the afternoon of the day
when we visited Los Reyes, we went across the valley to Panotla, Ignacio
and an older brother, Jose, met us at the hotel, where--excusing
himself on account of the mason-work at San Estevan, which could not
wait--Ignacio left us, assuring us that Jose would do everything for us.
This was quite true, and we found Panotla all that it had been painted.
Jose led us directly to their home. The walls were well built of stone
set in adobe mortar; they were smoothly coated with a snowy plaster; the
supporting walls of the little terrace on which the house was built were
also well constructed and it was with some pride that Jose told us that
the work had all been done by himself and Ignacio. Jose is married and
has a wife and three children; Ignacio is a bachelor; a younger
brother, Carmen, is also unmarried--he has taught himself free-hand and
architectural drawing and showed us examples of his work. The old father
and mother own the home and received us hospitably. Jose guided us
through the village, where we photographed whatever took our fancy,
entered houses, examined all that interested us, and really found
enthusiasm for our work everywhere. Before the churchyard stands a
quaint old cross of stone, dated 1728, upon which are represented all
the symbols of Christ's passion; a long inscription in Aztec is cut into
the base. Close by the church, we visited the boy's school, where
we found some forty dark-skinned, black-eyed, youngsters, whose
mother-speech is Aztec. We proposed to photograph them, so they were
grouped outside the schoolhouse, but not until a pair of national flags
and the portrait of the governor, Prospero Cahuantzi, were fixed upon
the background wall.
[Illustration: THE ANCIENT DRUM--HUEHUETL; LOS REYES]
[Illustration: FIESTA AT CHOLULA; DAY OF SAN ANTONIO ABAD]
After the picture had been taken, we told the _maestro_ we would like
to hear the boys sing. It was plain he did not consider singing their
strong forte, but our wishes were met. One boy, standing, wielded the
baton, beating time. When the singing
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