and the colors are a beautiful combination of flame-red with chrome-yellow.  The other day only the outer and lower flowers of the racemes were blown, but on this occasion the whole cluster was in bloom.  We noticed strikingly, what had before suggested itself to us, that through this district flowers of certain colors mass themselves together.  Thus, on this slope, the hundreds of bunches of flame-colored orchids were rivalled by clusters of a tubular flower perhaps an inch in length, of almost the same hues.  Along the glen-road near Tepanapa all sorts of flowers seemed to be pink or flesh-colored, while along the jungle-bank, near the coffee plantation, everything was blue or purple.  When we reached Zautla, neither the presidente, the secretario nor the segundo was in town.  The big topil, whose head was healing, did the honors of the place.  We had intended to make an early start, but it was half past six before we mounted and were on our way.  Going back over the old road, we soon reached the little coffee finca in charge of our Mixtec friend, and here we left the familiar trail, for what our guide insisted was a better one.  We struck up and up and up the slope to avoid little ravines which he assured us were very bad.  At last, when it was certain that he had completely lost his way, we started down into the forest.  For a time we followed a bad and disused trail, but soon even this disappeared, and we tore our way through the tropical vegetation as best we could.  Often the men had to cut the way with their machetes; sometimes we slid for yards over the wet mud; frequently our heads were caught by hanging vines, and faces and hands were scratched with brambles.  When at last we came out upon a cleared space, we found ourselves at the Chinantec village of Santa Maria.  Perhaps there were four houses in the village.  Our appearance caused great excitement.  Our pack-animals bade fair to destroy the maize and other plantings in the field.  In the trail were oxen, which had to be gotten out of our way for fear of being driven to frenzy by our mere passing.  They assured us that we were on the road to Tepanapa, so we completed the descent to the brooklet and started up a trail which at any time would have been steep, stony, slippery, all at once.  We were compelled, finally, to dismount and lead our animals; Frank, before he did so, tumbled his horse three times down the bank.  At one place two of the horses fell together in a struggling mass, and for a moment things looked serious.  All the animals but my own fell, at least once, before we reached the summit.  From there, it was an easy ride over a level district until we were in sight of Tepanapa, which, by sunlight, presented a most attractive appearance.  The houses are spread over a gentle slope, to the very edge of a little barranca.  Each had a little enclosure, with a group of banana plants.  Butterflies of brilliant hues lazily flew about, and a few birds uttered their characteristic