angry Indians.  The man continued to demand his five pesos, the other crying, “Pay him five pesos.”  I was firm, declaring that the man should receive no more than had been promised.  Again the peso was offered, again to be rejected.  At that moment some brilliant genius cried, “If you do not pay five pesos we will break your moulds.”  And the cry was caught up by the angry crowd:  “Yes, we will break the moulds unless you pay five pesos.”  At this threat I told my two companions to stand back out of the way, and then, speaking to him who had suggested the breaking of the moulds, said, pointing to them, “Yes, break the moulds.”  His ardor cooled.  Turning to another, I said to him, “Come, break the moulds.”  He began to back away.  Turning to the cause of the disturbance, who had joined in the cry about destroying the moulds, I said to him, “Come, come, we are waiting for you to break the moulds.”  No one made a move toward destroying our plaster-work, so I said, “No, you know quite well you will not break the moulds; if you did, you know what would happen; I should take you all as prisoners to Toluca.”  At that moment, catching sight of the old presidente who was passing on the road, I clapped my hands and beckoned him.  When the old man came I laid the matter fairly before him, telling him the agreement that had been made, the time taken for the work, and the fact I had offered the man the peso promised; that he now demanded five pesos, refusing to take the proffered money.  The old man looked a moment at me, then at the angry indian; then at me, and again at the indian; then, stepping up to him, he patted him on the back as a father might a spoiled child, saying, “Come, come, son; don’t be a fool; three good days’ wages for an hour’s time; take your peso and be gone.”  We had feared the incident would cast a damper on our work and hinder other subjects.  Far from it.  We were supplied as rapidly as our men could work at the same price we paid our first subject.

CHAPTER VI

LAKE PATZCUARO

(1897)

Mexico has few large lakes, the largest, Chapala, having an area of only 1,685 square kilometers.  Patzcuaro is much smaller, but far more picturesque.  The form is something like a fat horseshoe; fine hills rise around it on all sides, behind which are mountain heights, with jagged outlines; pretty islands dot its waters, and twenty-two villages or towns of Tarascan indians are situated on its borders.  The indians of these villages rarely use the land roads in going from town to town, commonly journeying by canoes, of a somewhat peculiar type.  These are “dug outs,” made from single tree trunks, and range in size from those intended for a single hunter to those which will carry ten or twelve persons.  At the stern they are cut almost squarely across; at the bow they are trimmed to a slope; they are flat-bottomed