descend, and out of which we had to climb.  Most of these were actually dry, but many of them contained a dirty pool of stagnant water.  At many places, the road was bordered with plants, the leaves of which somewhat resembled those of the pineapple.  They were light green in color, narrow and long-pointed at the upper end, and spiny along the sides.  This plant, named guamara, bears spikes of yellow fruits which are pointed at the upper end, but in color, size, texture, structure and taste reminded us of podophyllum, though it leaves a prickly sensation in the mouth, much like that produced by fresh pineapples.  There were also many trees bearing little limes or lemons, of which we gathered abundance for making lemonade.  At two o’clock our man pointed out a ranch-house near the road, in front of which two men sat eating, and told us we could procure food and drink there if we wished, and that we had plenty of time for stopping.  We found the men at the table to be the parish priest of Tantima and his servant.  The priest informed us that Tamalin was three and three-fourths leagues away, while Tantima was four.  The road for the greater part of the distance to the two places was the same.  We had an interesting conversation with the good priest, and for the first time we met the curious prejudice, which exists throughout this portion of the Huaxteca, against the Huaxtecs, and in favor of the Aztecs.  We were kept waiting some little time for our dinner, but by three o’clock were again upon our way.  Just as we started, we crossed the first true stream which we had met, but during the balance of the journey we crossed one or two others.  Soon, leaving the main road, we bore off to the left, and found several bad spots of stiff black mud, into which our poor animals sank frightfully.  After five o’clock we saw, from the slope on which we were, for we had left the llano and were again in rolling country, a little village, and higher and further to the left, a second.  The first of these was Gutierrez Zamora, which is Huaxtec, with a few Mexican families living at one side; the second was our destination, Tamalin.  We passed through Gutierrez at six, and reached Tamalin at seven.

The alcalde of the village was not there; in fact, we suspect that he but rarely is.  The secretario, likewise, was absent.  We finally prevailed upon his brother to help us to find an indian girl to cook our meals, and a room in the secretario’s house.  In this room there was but a single bed and our helper thought me very particular in demanding that petates should be brought as beds for my companions.  He assured us that, when he traveled, he slept upon the floor, without petates.  It was long after 10 o’clock before we had supper and secured a resting-place.  We had planned to push out from here the following morning; no sign, however, of our baggage had appeared, and we were forced to spend two days at Tamalin waiting for its