when he must give attention to his finca, to go to it for the necessary time.  They have some pretty children and are doing well.  We called at their house, quite like the others of the town, and were hospitably received with chocolate and sweet English cakes.  During our stay, this gentleman and his wife did their utmost for our comfort, and gave us many interesting bits of information regarding the people, their customs and their superstitions.  We have elsewhere described in detail their witchcraft practices, their belief in transformation into tigers, and their ideas regarding the destiny and condition of persons after death.

[Illustration] [MAZATEC FROM SAN LUCAS]

[Illustration] [MAZATEC FROM SAN LUCAS]

Just across the way from the town-house, was a large house of the usual fashion, which we quickly learned was the rendezvous and practice-place of the town band.  This consisted entirely of boys, none of them more than twenty years of age, and numbered upwards of thirty pieces.  The leader was a man of forty, a capital trainer.  The daily practice began at 4:30 in the morning, and was kept up until noon; then ensued an hour’s rest.  At one, they were again practicing, and no break occurred until long after dark.  During the days that we were there, a single piece only was being practiced.  It was our alarm clock in the morning, beat time for our work throughout the day, and lulled us to sleep when we retired for the night.  Senor de Butrie insists that during the year and more than he has lived in the village, several boys have blown themselves, through consumption, into early graves.  Our pleasant stay at Huauhtla came to an equally pleasant termination.  Having stated the number of animals and human carriers necessary, and the hour at which we wished to start, we found every preparation made on awaking in the morning, and at 6:25, after an excellent breakfast with Padre Manzano, we sallied forth.  Six human carriers bore our busts and baggage, and four capital horses carried us rapidly over the good road.  It was a magnificent morning, but later in the day, as the sun rose, it became hot.  We arrived at three in the afternoon with our carriers close behind.  The following morning we forgave the crabbed cochero at Teotitlan sufficiently to take his stage coach for San Antonio, where we arrived in fifty minutes, having two hours to wait before the north-bound train took us towards Puebla.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XX

TEPEHUAS AND TOTONACS

(1900)