lage, and there to
leave our things, had left before we arrived. The man who had come with
us, we had dismissed before we realized conditions. The coffee had
been gathered for the season; the chief man of the place was in the
mountains; there was no town government; neither prayers, threats, nor
bribes produced food for ourselves and our horses; two or three men
around the place would not be hired as _mozos_. We finally were forced
to leave our busts, plaster, photographic outfit and plates on a bench
under an open shed, and go on alone to Santiago Guevea. It was a bitter
disappointment, because our previous experience at San Miguel had been
so pleasant and interesting.

When we left Coatlan that morning, it had been through clouds and
drizzling rain. When we passed through San Miguel, conditions were but
little better. From there, we went through a gorge road, everywhere
passing little plantations of coffee, bananas, and tobacco. Finally, we
began our last mountain or forest climb. The wind with the rain became
colder and more penetrating. At the summit, we found a typical norther
raging, and at points our animals and ourselves were almost blown from
the crest. In good weather the road is long, but through this it was
dreadful. Few towns compare in beauty of location, and appearance from
a distance, with Santiago Guevea. It was nearly five when we drew up in
front of the crowded town-house. It will be remembered that this town is
Zapotec, Coatlan being the last Mixe town. The school-teacher interested
himself in our welfare, securing for us a real sleeping-room with cots,
putting our horses into the corridor of the schoolhouse, and arranging
for our meals. Chocolate and bread were at once furnished, and at eight
o'clock a good supper was sent to our room. In the _plaza_ outside, the
wind was blowing a hurricane and the cold cut like a knife; but the
house in which we slept was tight and warm. In the morning, we found the
wild weather still continuing. It had been out of the question to send
_mozos_ to San Miguel the night before, and it seemed wicked to start
them out in such a storm of wind, fog, rain and cold. Still, our time
was precious, and we ordered men sent to the place where our stuff had
been left, to fetch it; meanwhile, we decided to wait until they should
appear. Our animals had had nothing to eat the previous day, except a
little corn we had brought with us from Coatlan. We therefore ordered
_zacate_ brou