found ourselves in a yard crowded with people, among whom two bands of music were present, one with stringed instruments and the other with brass.  It was the house of the bride, and after a moment’s waiting in the yard, we were ushered, by the jefe’s clerk, into the building.  It had been cleared of all its contents and a long table, set in the middle, ran lengthwise of the place.  Benches were placed beside it.  A line of vases, filled with bouquets, occupied the middle of the table and between these were bottles of wine, catalan, mescal, pulque, tepache, beer, etc.  The ladies were already seated; we took the remaining seats.  The company consisted of the bride and groom, their parents, god-parents, families, and particular friends.  And then, we had a dinner which amply compensated for the thirty-six hours through which we had been fasting—­good bread, soup, stews, broiled meat, mole, mole prieto, chicken, beans, sweetmeats, coffee, with the beverages before mentioned.  Dishes, when they came in, were politely passed across the table to the ladies opposite; no one ate till all were served, and when we were through, the place was cleared, and another room full of friends sat down to the bountiful repast.  And then a third, and then a fourth, till everyone had feasted, even to the commonest, and the musicians, to whom abundance was carried after those invited in had eaten.  Through all this lengthy feasting the bands of music alternated with each other.  When all had eaten, the women quickly cleared the house, the tables were moved, and all the chairs of the neighborhood were set stiffly around the walls, after which dancing began, continuing through the night.

[Illustration]

After having eaten, we stepped outside to visit with the crowd.  Among them, several drunken men showed special friendliness.  One of these insisted upon showing us an idol, which, from his description, should have been a rather beautiful piece.  It turned out to be a very crudely-made head, wrought in coarse, cellular lava.  Considering the material, the work was really fine; nor was it a fragment broken from the body, as there had never been more than what we saw.  From here, a yet more drunken dulcero insisted on our going to his dulceria and bake-shop, where he told us that he had a much finer piece.  We found he really had an enormous head, made of coarse, but rather bright, red stone; it was another example of the same type of separate head, a type which must be characteristic of the district.

Notwithstanding the fine promises, we found no beds or other furniture when we returned to our room.  This was not, perhaps, surprising, in view of the excitement over the wedding, which might drive lesser matters out of the mind of the great official.  With difficulty, we secured some mats from the chief of police, and made our beds with these upon the desks and benches of the school room.  But, though we