ngs, of two stories with gaudy
fronts and _portales_, surrounding three sides of the square, augured
better for comfort while we were in the place, than for work
on Totonacs. We rode up to the _municipio_, where we found the
_presidente_, a rather stylish young fellow, who was interested in our
work and helpful. The town controls fourteen thousand persons, and its
name is derived from that of a large _ahuacate_, the Aztec name of which
is _pahuatl_. The _presidente_ assured us that there was no Totonac
town, properly speaking, within the limits of the _municipio_. For all
this district, Orozco y Berra makes many errors. Atla, which he lists as
Totonac, is really Aztec. The _presidente_, upon a local map, showed us
the interesting way in which natural barriers limit idioms. Two
little streams, coming together at an acute angle, may divide three
languages--one being spoken in the angle and one on either side.
In Tlaxco, a small village in this _municipio_, four idioms are
spoken--Aztec, Otomi, Totonac and Tepehua.

Two years before, just as my work was ending, we were in the great Otomi
town of Huixquilucan, in the state of Mexico. While resting at midday, I
noticed a neatly-dressed and clean young indian, plainly not Otomi, with
whom I conversed. He was an Aztec, and much interested in the work we
were doing. In our conversation, he told me that I would find much of
interest in the state of Hidalgo, and particularly called my attention
to the making of paper from bark, which he had observed in the town of
San Gregorio, two years before. This particularly interested me, and I
then made notes regarding the method of getting to San Gregorio. I was
advised by him, in case of going to that place, to talk with Don Pablo
Leyra, of Huehuetla, who was himself an Indian and a man of consequence
in the district--a sort of _cacique_ among his people. Several years
ago, I had first learned from Senor Eurosa, a Mexican Protestant
clergyman, that in the little town of Tlacuilotepec, there still survive
interesting pagan practices. In planning our present journey, I had
arranged to visit San Gregorio and Tlacuilotepec for the purpose of
investigating this manufacture of paper and these pagan customs.
Inquiring of the _presidente_ of Pahuatlan about his indians, I asked
regarding paper-beating, and discovered that it was done at the nearest
indian village of San Pablito, Otomi. We were told that bark of several
species of trees was used-