es,
scattered over which were figures of many kinds, including a group of
San Jose, Maria, and the infant Christ.

Santa Maria is purely _mestizo_. In the morning, finding breakfast
somewhat slow, we started for a walk, and passing by the old church,
came shortly to the spot where the boy martyr was killed. From here we
descended, over a long slope of gray tufa, to a pretty stream flowing
through black basalt. The rock is hard and shiny with cells or
air-bubbles scattered through its mass. Close by the water's edge we
were shown some curious impressions, on the nearly level surface of the
rock, which were said to be the imprints of the knees of the Holy Virgin
as she knelt here to wash clothes in the brook; there are also grooves
made by the Virgin's fingers as she scrubbed the clothing on the rock;
by the side of these impressions are two hollows, marking the spot where
the Holy Child sat with its mother as she worked. On the rock behind
is the impression of a mule's foot. Formerly there were two of these
impressions, but in 1888 a tornado broke away the mass of rock, on which
was the other impression. Just below this place the stream leaps in a
pretty cascade which, with its white foam, contrasts strikingly with the
black rock. The trail followed by Cortez on his way from Vera Cruz to
Tlaxcala was pointed out to us and we were told that Atlihuitzia in
those days was an important city, numbering five thousand _solteros_
(unmarried men). On the way back to the village, we visited the _arbol
huerfano_--orphan tree--a cypress, so called because it is the only tree
of its kind in this district. Quechol says that a long line of such
trees, at a distance of several leagues apart, was planted by the
Spaniards, and he and the villagers mentioned a number of them in
different places. Passing once more by the spot of martyrdom, a white
_capulin_ was pointed out, as being the very tree represented in the
picture of the killing.

It was now almost ten o'clock and we found breakfast waiting. At
Quechol's request, it was a purely Mexican meal, consisting of
Aztec dishes. We had _tamales_, _atole_, and, for the first time,
_champurado_. The latter is _atole_--corn gruel--mixed with chocolate,
and is really an excellent dish. After breakfast, we left our friends of
Atlihuitzia and hastened back over the same road past San Mateo, Belen,
San Pablo, and Santa Ana. The way was long and the sun was hot, but the
road was beguiled with man