tones. Back of all, rise hills of tufa, such as we had just
traversed. The houses, similar to those at Huautla, and in the country
between there and here, appear to be constructed with a view to cold.
At least, two houses usually occur in one inclosure; the one, more
important, corresponds to the god-house of the Aztecs and the other
to the cook-house. The former is better built, and has low, carefully
constructed walls, and a high abruptly four-pitched, heavily thatched
roof. Going to the _jefatura_, the young clerk there was much impressed
by the documents we presented, and asked us if we would accompany him to
the _jefe's_ house, as thus no time would be lost. Upon arriving at the
house of the _jefe_, we found that a wedding was about to be celebrated
in the church. The _jefe_ received us with magnificent promises; we
should room at the palace, arrangements should be made for boarding at
a private house, beds and other proper furniture should be brought
immediately, and the following day we should journey on horseback
through all the indian towns of the vicinity. This was all very fine,
but we told him that meantime we were hungry--we had eaten nothing since
the night before and then had fared badly--and that we must unload our
animals, which we had left with the rest of our company, standing in
front of the palace. The unloading was done at once and we were given
the schoolhouse for our quarters, at the rear of the _patio_ of the
palace. At this moment, however, everything else was neglected for the
wedding. This we all attended, and it was, indeed, an occasion. The
bride in white, with veil and orange-blossoms, was accompanied by her
mother, god-mother, and other female friends. She was really a pretty
and wholesome indian girl, and the groom was a decent young _mestizo_,
with gray wool sombrero, and linen jacket, cloth trousers, etc. He
and his god-father were bustling about attending to all sorts of
preliminaries. In the solemn procession which took place to the church,
the company of ladies preceded; the _jefe_ and myself led the line of
male friends, and, when we filed into the church, the building was
fairly filled. The special friends, including our party, moved in
procession to the high altar, where the ceremony was performed. The
bridal company knelt with candles in their hands. Other candles, some of
enormous size, were burning in various parts of the church. The priest,
with much ceremony, gave the sacramen