re might be no further discussion, we started. Just as we
left, the man who supplied the animals decided that our loads, which
before had been so large, were really not too large for three mules,
which number was actually sent with us, though we had paid for four.
We were ready for starting at seven, but it was ten before we left.
Meantime, clouds had gathered, and just as we started, rain began. There
were first several separate showers, and then a steady downpour, which
lasted almost till we reached Pahuatlan. All the blankets had been
packed away, and we rode through the rain until our clothes were
drenched through and through. For three hours this continued, and it
was impossible to see anything of the country through which we passed.
Finally, however, as we reached a great crest, and looked down into the
valley beyond, the sky was clear and we could see something of the scene
about us. The descent we were to make, and the slope in front, were
covered with sugar-cane, broken here and there by great patches of
pineapples. With each plantation of sugar-cane there was a little
shelter of poles under which was a sap-trough or boiling-tank, while at
the side of and behind the shelter was a rude mill, the power for which
was furnished by a yoke of oxen. Boys fed the fresh cane between the
crushing rollers, and the sap, as it ran out, was carried in little
troughs to vats. Not at all these little shelters was sugar-making in
progress, as we passed, but over both slopes many columns of smoke
indicated places where the work was going on. The fire in the vat kept
the sap boiling, and a man standing near with a great ladle, pierced
with holes, kept dipping up and pouring out the hot sap. When we started
up the great ascent we had no hint of Pahuatlan, and, when we reached
the summit, could see nothing of it. But hardly had we begun the descent
before we saw the large and handsome town below, but still with a long
slope and a sharp ascent to be passed, before we could reach it. From
the brook-side, at the bottom of the valley, almost to the village
itself, we passed through a dense growth of bananas, which seemed to
have suffered some damage, as many were dry and yellow, and individual
leaves were curiously tattered and jagged. Among them grew other plants,
coffee, orange-trees, peaches, and cane. When we reached the town, my
heart sank; a church with handsome dome and modern tower, a planted
_plaza_ with central fountain, buildi