Among themselves, the Coras use their own language, but all the men and most of the women speak and understand Spanish to some extent.  Though the people now dress like the “neighbours,” they are still thoroughly Indian, and proud of it.  There are about 2,500 pure-bred among them.  They call themselves Nayariti or Nayari, and in speech, religion, and customs they are akin to the Huichol Indians, who, however, do not care very much for their relatives, whom they call Hashi (crocodiles).  Yet some intercourse is maintained between the two tribes, the Coras bringing to the Huichols red face-paint, wax, and the tail-feathers of the bluejay, while the services of the Huichol curing shamans are highly appreciated by the Coras.  An interesting home industry is the weaving of bags or pouches of cotton and wool, in many beautiful designs.

The Coras are not good runners; they have neither speed nor endurance, and they run heavily.  It is astonishing how small the bones of their limbs are, especially among the females, though this, by the way, is the case with all the Indians I have visited.  A Cora woman made for me a shirt as an ethnological specimen, which I thought she must have made too small at the wrist-bands, as they measured about 4 3/4 inches (barely twelve centimetres); but she showed me how well they fitted her.  Still they always have well-developed hips and better figures than the Mexican women.  The teeth of the Coras are not always perfect; I have seen several individuals whose front teeth were missing.

Strange to say, in spite of the high elevation, there is fever and ague here; the alcalde told me that he had an attack every second day.

As Easter was at hand, there was quite a concourse of people, nearly 300 Indians assembling.  Oxen were killed, and general eating and feasting went on.  I attended the communal feast, and dishes of food were brought to me.  In accordance with the Indian custom not to eat much on the spot, I had my men carry some of the food to the camp, as a welcome addition to our monotonous diet and scanty stores; and we found that, aside from the usual Indian dishes, they comprised bananas, salted fish, honey, and squashes.

The authorities newly elected for the ensuing year gave a similar entertainment to their predecessors in office.  At the home of the “Centurion,” the principal official of the Easter festival, a rustic table and benches had been erected outside of the house.  I was invited to sit down among the men of quality, and it was phenomenal to be present at an Indian banquet served on a table, the only occasion of the kind in my experience.  As the table was small, the diners were served in turns, one set after another.  Each guest had a man to wait on him, but there was neither table-cloth nor knife, fork nor spoon.  It was, if you like, a dejeuner a la fourchette, except that you were supposed to handle the solid food with pieces of tortilla, that were broken off,