e
appearance was that the branches in question had served as buzzards'
roosts. Our journey of twenty-five miles was made with two relays of
horses. After perhaps three hours' riding, we reached the Zamora River,
which we followed for some distance. From the time when we began to
follow this stream, our road was almost a dead level. At many places
along the river, we saw a peculiar style of irrigation machine, a great
wooden scoop or spoon with long handle swung between supporting poles.
The instrument was worked by a single man and scooped up water from the
river, throwing it upon the higher land and into canals which carried it
through the fields. Sometimes two of these scoops were supported side by
side upon a single frame, and were worked in unison by two persons. At
the only town of any consequence upon the road, we found numbers of
interesting hot springs which might really be called geysers. They were
scattered at intervals over the flat mud plain for a distance of a half
mile or more. We could see jets of steam of more or less vigor rising
from a score or so at a time. At some of these the water really boiled,
and we saw it bubbling and tossing to a height of a foot or so above the
margin of the spring. Groups of women, laughing and talking or singing
snatches of songs, were washing clothes at several of these hot springs,
and the garments were spread out over the bushes and trees to dry. At
one little geyser, bubbling up in the very middle of the road, as we
passed we saw a boy pelting the water with stones and mud in order to
make it mad and see it spout. The plain was sprinkled here and there
with thickets of acacia and mesquite. In the early evening the breeze
came loaded with the fragrance of the golden balls of the acacia. There
was bright moonlight, and we could see the country, even after sunset.
The latter portion of the journey was through low swampy ground, much of
the time over causeways.

There are few towns in central Mexico, not on a railroad, to be compared
with Zamora. It is large, clean, well built, and presents an air of
unusual comfort. The main _plaza_ is large, and finely planted with
palms, orange-trees, roses and flowering shrubs. The orange-trees
were in full bloom and the air was heavy with their odor. The town is
electric-lighted and has a good system of waterworks. The great church,
with two slender towers, fills up the whole of one side of the _plaza_,
while the other three are occupi