y rattles from little crook-necked gourds. The
workers sat upon the floor, with their materials and tools before them.
The first one rubbed the body of the dry gourds over with an oil paint.
These paints are bought in bulk and mixed upon a flat slab, with a
fine-grained, smooth, hard pebble as a grinder, with _aje_ and a white
earth dug near the road between Chiapa and Tuxtla Gutierrez. The _aje_
is a yellow, putty-like mass which gives a brilliant, lacquer-like
lustre; the white earth causes the color to adhere to the surface to
which it is applied. The second woman rubbed the neck of the gourd with
green paint; the third painted the line of junction of the two colors
with white, using a brush; the fourth brought out the lustre of the
before dull object by rubbing it upon a pad of cotton cloth upon
her knee, giving a final touch by careful rubbing with a tuft of
cotton-wool; with a brush, the final worker rapidly painted on the
lustrous surface delicate floral or geometric decoration. Though
representing so much delicate and ingenious labor, these pretty toys
were sold at the price of two for a _medio_ (three cents in United
States currency).

The _aje_ which gives the brilliant lustre to this work deserves more
than a passing notice. It is made chiefly at San Bartolome and is
secured from an insect, a sort of plant-louse, which lives upon the
blackthorn and related trees. The insect is found only in the wet
season, is small, though growing rapidly, and is of a fiery-red color,
though it coats itself over with a white secretion. It lives in swarms,
which form conspicuous masses. These are gathered in vessels, washed
to remove the white secretion, boiled, crushed, and strained through a
cloth; an oily matter, mixed with blood (?) and water passes out, which
is boiled to drive off the water and to concentrate the oily mass. This
is then washed in trays, to rid it of the blood, and made up into balls,
which are sold at ten or twelve _centavos_ (five or six cents) a pound.
It is a putty-like substance, with a handsome yellow color. We have
already stated that it is ground up with dry paints to be rubbed on
the object which is to be adorned, and that the brilliant lustre is
developed by gentle and rapid friction.

[Illustration: ZAPOTEC WOMAN; SAN BLAS]

[Illustration: CASE OF WHITE PINTO; TUXITA GUTIERREZ]

_Pinto_, a spotting or discoloring of the skin, is a common disease in
many parts of Mexico. Three varieties are