er
passengers were crowded in upon us, and the man, for whom we had paid
the _peso_ to carry our instruments, ran alongside the coach on foot,
throwing stones at the mules, while we had again the pleasure of
carrying the instruments and boxes on our knees. The country through
which we rode was much as before. For some time we passed through a fine
pine forest; then we made a deep descent into a valley, at the bottom of
which flowed a large stream, which was bridged by a grand old structure
of stone and cement. This descent, and the opposite ascent, we were
obliged to make on foot, as the approaches were bad. We have been
impressed strongly with the fact that everywhere in Mexico the worst
bits of road are those which, in old Spanish days, were handsomely
and well paved; and which, during the disturbed period of the early
Republic, were neglected and allowed to go to decay. It is depressing to
see so many evidences of past magnificence and present poverty. It was
almost dusk when, after skirting the edge of a deep gorge, we reached a
piece of bad road, where the coach with difficulty made its way, with
frightful jolts and pitchings, till we drew up at Venta Colorado. Here
the coach was finally abandoned. Our animals were packed and mounted,
and after fussing and quarreling with our ugly _cochero_ as to whether
he or we should carry the bulk of our baggage, we started. The distance
was not great. It was down hill, and we had to pick our way with great
care over the rough road, filled with loosened and separated blocks of
ancient paving.

This district, in one respect, reminded us of the Tarascan country.
Every house along the road was a sales-place, where drinks, cigarettes,
fruit and bread were offered, and each had the little boarded window,
open when sales were solicited, and closed when business stopped. The
houses, too, were log structures with shingled four-pitched roofs, and
the houses in the town were well built, cement-walled, with low-sloped,
far projecting tile roofs supported on trimmed beams. One might as well
have been in Patzcuaro, Uruapan, or Chilchota. Again the _cochero_; we
had told him that the stuff should go to the _jefatura_, and not to the
hotel; he told us with great insolence that the _jefatura_ was closed,
and that it would be impossible to see the _jefe_ and that the stuff
would remain at the hotel; he followed us, when we went to the _jefe's_
house, and great was his surprise when he found our