afternoon, we walked through the indian town, which extends
over a considerable area. The houses are rectangular, with adobe walls,
mostly whitewashed, and with steep, pitched roofs. We met a funeral
procession in the road, with the usual band in front. The coffin open,
so as to show the child, was carried on the shoulders of several men.
The mother, in contortions of real or simulated grief, was supported by
two women, and the mourners brought up the rear, wailing now and then.
Among the mourners was a woman who suffered from black _pinto_, notably
developed. The principal industry of the town is pottery. The clay,
which is of a greyish-black color, is stiff and hard, and is first
broken up with a mallet. When worked into a stiff paste, it is built
by hand into great _ollas_ and plates, one and a half or two feet in
diameter. These _ollas_ we saw at many houses, and sometimes they were
lashed to carts, plainly for bringing water from the stream. A single
_olla_ thus lashed, practically filled a fair-sized cart.

[Illustration: DRYING POTTERY; SAN GERONIMO]

[Illustration: CART AND OLLA; SAN GERONIMO]

The little hotel at the station is a new venture, and deserves complete
success. At few places in Mexico have we found meals so good and cheap.
In the evening, more from curiosity than expectation, we watched the
train come from the east, and to our surprise and satisfaction, found
our luggage. We had really made up our minds that we must spend some
days in waiting; on the whole, the quiet and comfort of the little
tavern would not have been unpleasant; but we hastened at once to Senor
Espindola, and urged him to make instant arrangements for our leaving in
the morning. To this he replied that no _carretero_ would be likely to
start on Sunday, and that we would have to wait until the following
day. Matters turned out better than anticipated, and before nine, the
following morning, our arrangements had been made. Two _carretas_ were
hired, at twenty-eight pesos each, to make the journey; our driver
agreed that, without counting that day, he could get us to Tuxtla in
eight days; in order to encourage him, we promised to pay five pesos
extra for each _carreta_, in case we reached the city of Tuxtla on
Monday the 11th. His name was Eustasio; he was a good-natured little
Zapotec, from Juchitan originally, but living now at Guvino, Union
Hidalgo. He warned us that, for the first day, we would have to put up
with some discomfo