hains of the yellow
death-flower were looped up against the wall. It is said that the people
of the town never enter here, but only _brujas_. Nor is it the exclusive
property of the witches of Atla, of whom there are but two or three, but
those of several pueblos make their rendezvous in this cave. In fact,
from the crest, we could see two other little towns that are interested
in this cave, though located in another valley.

[Illustration: THE PAGAN PRIESTESS AND HER ACOLYTE; SANTA MARIA]

[Illustration: THE WITCH'S CAVE AT ATLA]

Don Antonio, at whose house we stayed, told us that San Pablito is worse
for _bruheria_ than Atla. He says the people of that town make use of
_munecos_ of wood, of various sizes. For these he makes many little
shoes, for which he charges five or six _reales_ a pair; at that time he
had orders for three pairs, and showed us the little forms or lasts he
employs, and the special leather; they are particular about this, using
black for shoes for males and red for females. He says they also
use little hats, _serapes, enaguas_ and _quichiquemils_, for their
_munecos_. Some of these dolls they place on the altar in the church,
and consider them as sacred, though they remove them when they expect
the priest. Others they take to a lake in the district of Tenango, near
San Pablo el Grande, and leave them there as offerings. They also throw
money and other offerings into the lake.

We started at eight o'clock the following morning, bound for Tenango
del Doria. For a little time, after leaving Pahuatlan, we mounted, soon
finding ourselves at the top of a magnificent crest. From here the
descent was rapid and profound; in front of it rose an equally abrupt
slope to an even greater height; toward the left this presented a
wonderful knife-edge crest, jagged and toothed astonishingly, and on
this great slope, below the level where we were, we saw San Pablito,
prettily located. As it was Sunday, most of the people were on their
way to market, and we saw many Otomis, whose dark color and broad faces
reminded us of those in the state of Mexico, though they did not present
so marked a type. The _enaguas_ of the women consisted of an upper white
strip and a lower striped one, the colors in the latter being blue and
white, or white with a broad band of purplish blue, in which were woven
white designs. Their _quichiquemil_ was usually rather plain; white with
a broad band of red, magenta or purple, parallel to