The same abundance of ancient remains that we found here characterizes the neighbourhood of all the Mexican monuments in the country, with one curious exception.  Burkart declares that in the vicinity of the extensive remains of temples known as Los Edificios, near Zacatecas, no traces of pottery or of obsidian were to be found.

Before going away, we held a solemn market of antiquities.  We sat cross-legged on the ground, and the Indian women and children brought us many curious articles in clay and obsidian, which we bought and deposited in two great bags of aloe-fibre which our man carried at his saddle-bow.  Among the articles we bought were various pipes or whistles of pottery, pitos, as they are called in Spanish, and just as we were mounting our horses to ride off, a lad ran to the top of one of the mounds, and blew on one of these pipes a long dismal note that could be heard a mile off.  Our friends had filled our heads so full of robbers and ambushes, that we made sure it was a signal for some one who was waiting for us, and the more so as the boy ran off as soon as he had blown his blast; and when we looked round for the people whose antiquities we had been buying, they had all disappeared.  But nothing came of it, and we got safely back to Tezcuco.  As usual, we spent a capital evening, and separated late.  The owner of the glass-works, who had been spending the evening with us, had an adventure on his road home.  He was peaceably riding along, when two men rushed out from behind the corner of the street, and shouted “alto ahi!” (halte-la).  He thought they were robbers, and started at a gallop.  His hat flew off, and the men sent two bullets singing past his head, which sent him on quicker than ever, till he reached his house.  There he got his pistols, and came back armed to the teeth to fetch the hat, which lay where it had fallen.  The supposed robbers turned out, on enquiry next day, to have been national guards, patrolling the street; but certainly their proceedings were rather questionable.

We had an unpleasant visit the same night.  The custom of the Casa Grande was that after dark a watchman patrolled all night, giving a long blast every quarter of an hour on one of these same doleful Mexican whistles, to show that ho was not sleeping on his rounds.  This was for the outside.  Inside the house, pour surcroit de precaution, a servant came round to see that every one was in his room; and having satisfied himself of this, let loose in the courtyard two enormous bulldogs, which were the terror of the household and of the whole neighbourhood.  On this particular night, a noise at our own door woke me from a sound sleep; and I had the pleasure of seeing a creature walk deliberately in, looking huge and terrific in the moonlight.  The beast had been into the stable two nights before, and had pinned a cow which was there, keeping his hold upon her till next morning, when he was got off by the keeper.  With this