work with the Tzendals was done.  We were received royally, and told that our house was ready.  This was really so, a pretty little house of three good rooms having been cleaned and prepared for our use.  We lay down and napped until the good dinner, which had been started when we had first been seen upon the road, and some time before we reached the village, was ready.  Sitting on the porch of our little house, and looking out over bushes, full of roses, in the garden before us, we rested until the greatest heat of the day was past, when we started, and pushed on over the three leagues that lay between us and Yajalon, where we arrived at near sunset.  The town is large, and, in great part, indian.  The women dressed more gaily than in any other Tzendal town which we have seen; their huipils were decorated with a mass of bright designs, worked in colored wools or silk.  Here we saw our first Chol, a carrier, passing through the village with his load; in order to make a start upon our final tribe, we had him halted, to take his measurements and picture.  At this town, we stopped at a sort of boarding-house, or traveller’s-rest, close by the town-house, kept by a widow with several children.  We impressed upon this good woman the necessity of having breakfast without fail at five o’clock, as we wished to make an early start, stopping at Hidalgo for work during the hotter portion of the day, and pressing on to Tumbala at night.  The poor creature kept me awake all night, making her preparations for the meal, which was to be a masterpiece of culinary art, and at four o’clock routed us all out with the report that breakfast was waiting on the table.  It was a turkey-breakfast, too.

CHAPTER XXVI

CHOLS

(1901)

Of course, after such a start, we were delayed in getting the animals ready for the journey, and the sun had been up full half an hour when we left.  It was a short ride to Hidalgo, which lies prettily in a small, flat valley, on a good-sized stream.  We were doubtful about our reception, for Yajalon was the last town in Valencia’s district, and we had no documents to present to the town officials, until we should reach El Salto, the cabecera, except our general letter from Governor Lopez.  It is true that the presidente of Yajalon, at our request, had telephoned Hidalgo that we came highly recommended, and that everything possible must be done for our assistance.  The agente was an old man, suffering from headache, who showed but listless interest in our work.  In a general way, he gave us his endorsement, and we, therefore, took the management into our own hands.  He had kept the people in town, so that we had subjects, though fewer than we had hoped.  We measured twenty-seven men, and there were really no more in the town, the rest being away on fincas.  The men gave us no trouble, but the women were another matter.