The Mexican southland

Front matter

THE

MEXICAN SOUTHLAND

By Kamar Al-Shimas

Chapter I

SALINA CRUZ The approach — Northers — Fuel Oil — Population — Mexican characteristics — Festivals — The Marimba — Posada — San Benito's Day — Sharks — Goats — Burros — Cacti — The Pitaya 1

Chapter II. Quien Vive ?

The Bandits — Troop trains — System of defense — Attacks on Salina Cruz and Tehuantepec — Use of bees in defensive warfare — Don Pepe instructs his mozos — La Brigada Carrera — Dodging bullets 27

Chapter III

TEHUANTEPEC An agricultural center — Strategically located — Inhabitants — Architecture — Brick-making — Homes of the poor — Churches — The light on Dani Lieza — Wretched dogs — Sultan — The city's water department 45

Chapter IV

DON CARLOS DE SAN BLAS Buzzards and cacti — The cemetery at Tehuantepec — A deaf priest — The Plaza — Flower girls — A Tehuana dance — The rainbow women — An avocado orchard — Hedges — The mucilage berry — Ascent of Tiger Hill — The miracle-working church tower — Six coy Tehuanas — Good Friday in the Holy City — A passion play — Female finery — The Huipil Grande — John Story defends the pumps 58

Chapter V

FARTHER AFIELD The Isthmus of Tehuantepec — The Gulf plains — The Central highlands — Pacific plain — The seven rivers of the plain — A barbecue at San Bias — San Geronimo — A bull fight — Garfia Salinas pases as a bishop — Juchitan — A tragedy of Clipperton Island — Earthquakes — Climate — Northers 73

Chapter VI

THE PLANT WORLD The trees of the plain — Palo-Mulato or balsawood — Spanish oak — Lignum vitae — Dyes and dyewoods — The jecapezle — Lawn trees — The wild cotton tree — Flowering trees — The Amistad del Dia — The tree-killer — Fruits — Mangoes — The papaya — Anonas — The land of cool drinks — The great Mexican haw 95

XI.

XII TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter VII

ANIMAL LIFE A sportsman's paradise — Deer — Cats — Peccaries — Armadillo — A novelty seeker — ^Tapirs — Vampires — Birds — The zopilote — Sanates — The Chichilaca — Curassows — The frigate bird — Iguanas; a table delicacy — Alligators — Sharks — Insects — The plague of toads — Pearls 110

Chapter VIII

THE INDIAN PEOPLES Few white people on the Isthmus — The Zapotec Indians — Division of labor between the sexes — Beautiful women — The Zapotec language — Costume — The wonderful Tehuana skirt — Honesty a national trait — Intemperance — Sexual morality — "Red Men" — Education — Religion — The Huave Indians — Choque-Mixes — The Pinta— The Aztecs 119

Chapter IX. Transportation And Bandits

Railroads of the Isthmus — Outlaws attack train — Don Lemon escapes with his money — Mahoney makes his "getaway" — Terrors of the Vera Cruz al Istmo — The Pan American line — Plateau of Chiapas — River traffic on the Coatzacoalcos — The bandits strip Don Alfredo — Traveling by balsa — The esteros of the Pacific shore — Transportation needs — Wagon roads — Postal service — The cable company — No telephones — Mexican hotels — The menu — Politeness at table 139

Chapter X

INDUSTRIES AND FINANCIAL OPPORTUNITIES Americans on the Isthmus — The wonderful Coatzacoalcos River — Opportunities for foreigners in southern Mexico — Acquiring the Spanish language — Openings for investment — Banking — Stock raising — Hides — Indian corn — Don Jeronimo Mahoney — Beans — Chili pepper — Sugar cane — Coffee culture — Indigo culture — Rubber plantations — Sisal. Ixtle and Pita — Tobacco — ^Vanilla — Fruit culture — Bananas — The papaw — Pineapples — Coconuts — Bee culture — The lumber industry — Mining — Salt marshes — Onyx — Weights and Measures — Constitutional provisions affecting foreigners 159

Chapter XI

RISE OF THE ZAPOTECS The Valley of Oaxaca — Civilization of the early Zapotecs — The national capital — Present desolation of Zaachila — Accession of King Cosijoeza — Revolt of Loolaa — Vengeance of the Aztecs — Cosijoeza takes Tehuantepec 196

Chapter XII

THE DEFENSE OF QUIENGOLA Quiengola fortified — The siege begun — Nightly sallies — Salted Aztecs — A bastion of skulls — Moctezuma proposes peace — Cosijoeza conquers Soconusco — Ahuitzotl summons his wizards .... 203

TABLE OF CONTENTS XIII

Chapter XIII. The Queen Of Zapoteca

The Pool of the Marchioness — Coyolica comes from Anahuac — The sign of the birthmark — Alarii visits the Mexican court — Ahuitzotl tries duplicity — Coyolica displays the sign — Coyolica brought to Tehuantepec — Marriage of Cosijoeza and Coyolica — The Zapotecs settle on the Pacific plain 210

CHAPTER XIV. Ahuitzotl meditates revenge — Sends embassy to Zaachila — Constancy

of Coyolica — Flight of the Embassadors — The Aztecs overrun the

southland — Birth of Naatipa — Death of Ahuitzotl — Birth of Cosi-

jopii — Birth of Pinopaa 220

Chapter XV

THE MIXTEC REVOLT Cosijoeza plans the revolt — Cetecpatl's perfidy — Cuitlahuac routed in the Pass of the Serpent — His battles with the Sosoltecs — Regarrisons Huaxyacac — Returns to Tenochtitlan — Birth of the Princess Donaji — Revolt of the three cities — The cunning Mitlans .... 229

Chapter XVI

THE KING OF TEHUANTEPEC Education of the royal princes — Elevation of Cosijopii — His marriage — Cosijopii departs for his new kingdom — Death of the princess Pinopaa — Arrival at Tehuantepec — The cult of Pinopaa — The Inquisition — Mystery of the Guixepecocha — The priests consult Pezelao ". 240

Chapter XVII

THE ZAPOTEC RELIGION The writer deprecateth the wrath of the son of Abdullah — The mythical Pecocha — He reforms the Zapotec religion — His disappearance on Monapoxtiac — Thought to have been the Chinese Fou Sang — Illusions of Gracida — The Zapotec pantheon — Pitao the Uncreated — The God of Abundance — Pezelao, the Oracle of Heaven — The Spirit of Evil — The voice from the enchanted cave 247

Chapter XVIII

THE MOUNTAIN CATS Cosijoeza covets Cuilapan— Learns of the arrival of the Spaniards— A currier sent to Cosijopii — Cosijopii dispatches envoys to Zaachila — The embassy to Cortez — Capture of Zaachila by the Mixtecs — Casandoo invades the territories of Tehuantepec — Cosijopii begs assistance of Cortez — Orozco marches to relieve the Zapotecs — He occupies Huaxyacac (Oaxaca) — An armistice 255

Chapter XIX

PRINCESS GREAT SOUL Princess Donaji given as a hostage — Orozco besieges Ixcuiltepec— Donaji sends a messenger to Zaachila — Death of Donaji — A blue lily grows from her blood 265

XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter XX

THE COMING OF ALVARADO Alvarado leaves Coyoacan for Oaxaca — Conquest of Tututepec — A chain of gold— Imprisonment and death of Casandoo — Spanish colony founded at Tututepec — Conspiracy against Alvarado — The Chontals — Alvarado visits Aztata and Quiengola — Arrival at Tehuantepec — Cosijopii visits the Oracle of Heaven — Alvarado and the Lord of Jalapa — Battle with the Chontals — "Conversion" of Cosijopii — Expeditions against the Chontals and Huaves — Alvarado returns to Mexico City 271

Chapter XXI

Death of Coyolica — Return of the Tututepecan colony to Huaxyacac — -

Revolt of Tututepec — Marriage and death of Prince Naatipa —

Death of King Cosijoeza — The son of Oconana ascends the

throne — Abdication 286

Chapter XXII

THE FALL OF COSIJOPII Cosijopii's generosity — Is stripped of his power — The priests of Mitla — Cosijopii betrayed — His arrest — Rising of the people — The Tiing calms the multitude — He appeals to the CrovvTi of Spain — Judgment of the Royal Audience — Death of Cosijopii — An auto de f e — Remorse of Friar Bernardo — The children of Cosijopii . . . 294

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A Plantation Scene Near Tehuantepec Frontispiece

Facing Page

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec X

The Salina Cruz Harbor 4

A Ship in the Salina Cruz Dry Dock 4

A Birdseye View of Salina Cruz 4

The Light House at Salina Cruz _ 12

Main Street Salina Cruz 20

The Principal Street in Salina Cruz 20

The Salina Cruz Market is Enclosed. Few on the Isthmus are 20

Salina Cruz and Vicinity - 28

Savage Woman of the Mountains. Other Races of the Isthmus are

Inferior to the Zapotec 36

Church of San Sebastian Tehuantepec 40

Cathedral of Santa Domingo, Tehuantepec 40

Railroad Bridge and the City of Tehuantepec in the Background .... 52

San Bias a Suburb of Tehuantepec 52

A Chapel on the Hill, Santa Maria 60

A Street Scene in Tehuantepec 60

American Consulate, Salina Cruz 60

A Little Tehuana in National Zapotec Costume 68

Two Damsels of Tehuantepec in Gorgeous Tehuana Costumes 68

Vegetation is Luxuriant Along the Waterways 76

A Pastoral Scene on the Isthmus 76

Lake Oaxaquena, near Santa Lucrecia 76

The City Park at Juchitan, Lambimbo Trees in the Foreground 84

XV.

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Establishment of some of the Merchants are Quite Pretentious 84

A Watering Station on the Great Transportation Route 92

The Jaltepec River is a Beautiful Stream 92

The Water Carriers of Tehuantepec 92

Coconut Palms grow Luxuriantly on the Isthmus 100

Headquarters of a Prosperous Isthmus Plantation 108

A Banana Plantation 108

Cultivating the Young Sugar Cane Plants 108

Pelicans are Plentiful and Tame along the Coast 116

The Bats are Another Scavenger, Attacking Humans as well as Insects after Dark , 116

Buzzards the Great Isthmus Scavenger, as tame as Domestic Fowl . 120

Senor Bigote, the Renowned Gringo Viajero, Dressed to ascend to

the Crater of Popocatepetl 122

A Peon's well kept Home 124

A Tehuana of the Upper Class in full Ruffled Skirt 132

A Zapotec Girl from the Highlands Showing Wrapped Skirt 132

A Bride of Tehuantepec, the Upper Garment is Evidently Derived

from Old Spain 132

A Street Scene in San Geronimo, Railroad Ties are an Article of

Commerce 140

A Sugar Plantation Railroad, a Substantial Affair 140

The Primitive Cart and Oxen are the Common Means of Transportation 140

Bananas on their way to Market Down the River 148

The Dry Dock at Salina Cruz, the Largest on the Mexican West

Coast 148

Mammoth Electric Cranes on the Wharf Make the Salina Cruz Harbor Economical 148

The Market Building at San Geronimo 156

Little Tehuanas Accompanied by one of the Lords of Creation Who

Lacks his Pants 156

The Only Modem Brewery on the Isthmus, Some of Those Unused in

the United States could be Moved Down 164

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XVII

Cutting Sugar Cane Near Tehuantepec 172

Sugar Cane Plantation Offers Big Business Possibilities, Young

Sugar Cane on the Oaxaquena Plantation 172

A Kind of Vehicle Very Common on the Streets 180

A High Toned String Band on the Isthmus. Note the Headwear .... 180

The Post Office and Telegraph Station 180

Bananas are Often Carried from the Field 188

In the Oaxaquena Sugar Factory Everything is Modern — Cane Un-

loader at Work 188

The Peons Working on the Sugar Plantations Have no Labor-saving Tools. Loading Cane 188

The Church of San Pedro Vixaana, Tehuantepec, The Men do not go

into the Church and have an Awning for their Comfort 196

The Church of the Laborio at Tehuantepec, The Palms form part of

the picture 196

Three Happy Flower Girls of Tehuantepec 200

A Face of Mystery 204

A Maiden of the Noble Zapotec Race 204

Indian Maid with Jecapezle prepared to visit the Market 212

Middle aged Zapotecs. Mango held on a Mango Fork, Readily

handled 212

Zapotec Beauty and American Gold 220

A Middle Aged Zapotec Lady 220

In the Suburb of Tehuantepec 228

Another of the Numerous Churches of Mexico at San Geronimo, Tehuantepec - -. 236

The Church of Juchitan .- 236

Fair Face and Flowers, A Child of the Holy City 244

A Happy Daughter of the Sun 244

A Mountain Girl with Ancient Zapotec Costume -.. 252

A Quarter Blood Italian and Zapotec Blooded girl with Pure white

Skin 252

A Rainbow Lady, the fan is used as protection against the sun 252

A Florist of the Isthmus 260

XVIII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Living Flowers of the Isthmus 260

Ruins of Mitla where Cosijoeza was buried 268

Another View of Mitla Ruins the Seat of the Zapotec Ancient

Splendor 268

Butterfly Women 282

A Rich Zapotec Maiden, Note the Jewels 282

A Neat Little Tehuana 282

Pancha, A Belle of Santa Maria 290

A Tehuana in Middle life 290

A Tehuantepec Maid Decked with U. S. Gold Coins 290

A Full Blood Zapotec of San Geronimo 296

A Zapotec Type with Elaborately Embroidered dress 296

The

Mexican Southland

The Mexican Southland.

Chapter 1 SALINA CRUZ

AS your ship beats eastward along the southern coast of Oaxaca the scene continually changes yet is ever the same. Mountain succeeds mountain, seemingly without end, for you are coasting the Switzerland of America, the home of those rugged mountaineers, the Zapotecs who for so many generations successfully withstood the conquering armies of Tenochtitlan. Fold on fold the ridges sweep away toward the interior, rising ever higher to where on the distant horizon the mountain monarchs sit, their peaks rising to heights of ten and twelve thousand feet and bathed in that pearly light which renders the Mexican cordilleras so uniquely beautiful.

From these mountains, after you pass Puerto Angel eastbound, transverse ridges stretch toward the sea, ending in bold promontories, and between each pair of promontories nestles a bay. The last of these headlands before reaching the plains of Tehuantepec are Salina Cruz and Ventosa points. Between them, partly sheltered from the northern gales, lies the port of Salina Cruz.

The only natural feature of this port which is worthy of note is Salina Cruz Point, a bare granitic promontory rearing its head some two hundred feet above the sea. Capped by the harbor lighthouse, it is a thing of beauty, reminding one of the bleak coast scenes of the northland. Many a wave has it breasted, for when storm affhcts the Pacific the waves borne along by a strong southwest current fall upon it with fury and the sands of the sea are piled up its flanks to a height of over a hundred feet. This same current rounds the point and does not rest until it has carried its burden of sand on into the harbor, which is kept open only by continuous dredging.

Some three or four miles to the northwest, between the Salinas del Marques (Saltflats of the Marquis) and the plains of Tehuantepec, runs a spur from the mountains of Oaxaca. At that point the crest is crowned by an immense block of phonolite which seen from the sea has the appearance of a house-chimney, while from the plains it resembles the headless bust of a woman. The Indians call this natural phenomenon Xunirahui, after a famous Zapotec woman of the olden time. A couple of miles southeast of this landmark the mountain ridge divides, one spur passing to the west of Salina Cruz and another to the east, terminating in the two points mentioned.

Salina Cruz lies thus in an arid little basin surrounded by arid hills some five or six hundred feet in height, covered with stunted trees and gigantic cacti. The place is noted for the violence of its sand storms. Indeed for at least six months of the year, during fully three days out of ten the "northers" blow with frightful velocity, driving the sand in clouds and cutting the streets to the bare rock. The trees in the public park are canted over to the south at an angle of forty-five degrees, and when the wind blows no one ventures abroad without automobile goggles.

It is a mercy that the northers do blow, for Salina Cruz lies on the sixteenth parallel and when the winds cease to blow the weather quickly becomes torrid. Ladies rarely move about before nightfall. Strange to say, while in the cooler regions of the central plateau women wear hats, on the Isthmus, where they need them more, a hatted female is never seen. The ordinary head covering is a thick veil, the manta or reboso, which is no protection whatever against the scorching sun. When the poor creatures find it necessary to go abroad in the heat of the day they often make a picturesque but pitiable attempt to shield themselves from the sun's rays with the indispensable fan or a tiny parasol. Poor things, they are still in bondage; almost as much as though their feet were bound like those of the heathen Chinese. The hat, in the days to come, shall be their liberator.

The basin in which the city lies is absolutely barren. Neither water nor food products are obtainable in the near vicinity. The city's waterworks are located at Tehuantepec, twelve miles distant, whence an abundant supply of crystal pure water is pumped to Salina Cruz. Everything in the nature of fruit and vegetables is also brought from Tehuantepec. All night long bull carts laden with produce wend their way toward the port to provide the next day's supply of food. Were this traffic interrupted for forty-eight hours, a state of famine would exist at Salina Cruz.

It is a new town. A half century back, when the members of the Shufeldt expedition visited the place, it was a mere hamlet of some half dozen huts. The Indians of pre-Castilian times did not navigate the seas and required no ports, and the single port of Acapulco sufficed to meet the needs of New Spain.

Salina Cruz is the work, not of nature, but of man. It is the work largely, I am almost tempted to say solely, of the great English house of Pearson and Son, which built the railroad across the Isthmus and constructed the gi'eat harbor works at Puerto Mexico and Salina Cruz. The port works at

Salina Cruz consist of an outer and an inner harbor, of 138 and 69 acres, respectively, separated by a wharf 3,300 feet in length. On this wharf are six immense warehouses, each 420 feet in length by 105 feet in breadth; floor space of each, 44,100 square feet. The outer entrance to the harbor is 600 feet in width and the inner entrance 100 feet. Two cantilever bridg-es span the latter, permitting the movement of cars along the whole length of the water front, while eighteen electric cranes on the track next the inner basin facilitate the prompt loading and discharge of cargo. The normal tides are four feet, increased to six feet when the south wind blows. At low tide there is thirty-two feet of water alongside the wharves.

Salina Cruz is one of the very few points on the Pacific coast of North America where ships can bunker with fuel oil. The oil is brought by train from Minatitlan on the north side of the Isthmus and stored in a 46,000-barrel tank, whence it is led to ship's side by a pipe line. The pipe line runs half the length of the wharf, thus enabling three ships to take oil at the same time.

Connecting with the inner harbor is one of the best drydocks on the Pacific coast, while there are over twenty-five miles of terminal tracks on and in the neighborhood of the wharf.

These port works were completed in 1908. At that time the Panama Canal was still unfinished, the Tehuantepec route afforded the cheapest transportation from the Orient and the islands of the Pacific to the Atlantic seaboard, and profound peace prevailed in Mexico. No sooner was the port completed than the Hawaiian Islands began to ship their enormous sugar output via the Hawaiian-American steamship line and the Tehuantepec Railroad to New Orleans and beyond. The harbor was full of freighters, the population of Salina Cruz grew by

A Bird's-evf Vit-v of Salm;! <'!-uz leaps and bounds, from a mere fishing village to a city of six thousand souls, and no less than eighteen trains entered or departed from the place daily.

But the prosperity of the place was short-lived. In April of 1914, coincident with the occupation of Vera Cruz by American forces, the "Gringos" fled from the Isthmus, and they have not returned. Meanwhile the continuance of disturbed conditions within the country, the opening of the Panama Canal, and the disturbance of commerce occasioned by the great war in Europe, have combined to prevent the resumption of traflfic on the Isthmus.

Salina Cruz is very quiet today. There is some inbound movement of sugar from Salvador and Peru and tobacco from Tepic, and some coffee moves outbound from Chiapas through Salina Cruz to San Francisco ; but other traffic there is none. Public opinion is pessimistic. It is felt that the Tehuantepec route can never compete with the Panama Canal. This is doubtless true, yet I am satisfied that when normal conditions are restored this route will still be able to command a fair share of through traffic ; and with that restoration, and with her fecund soil and gracious climate, the population of the Isthmus should multiply twentyfold and her local traffic increase accordingly.

Nor should we forget that there is no port south of Salina Cruz to the Guatemalan border, a distance of over two hundred miles, nor any suitable port to the north short of Mazatlan. Although Acapulco possesses one of the finest natural harbors in the world, it is inaccessible from the interior ; and Manzanillo, the next port to the north, is unhealthy and lacks space for development. For these reasons Salina Cruz is destined to remain, what it now is, the second port of the west coast of Mexico.

Such was the Salina Cruz which I visited in December of 1917. The city itself lay a half mile back from the port. Grouped about the business center were the establishments of the principal merchants of the place, while a block further up the main street we passed on our right the station of the Central and South American Cable Company, picturesquely perched on a high rock which at that point jutted from the hills which confined the city on the east. A little further on we came to the public school just beyond which, on opposite sides of the street, were the post office and the American consulate ; the latter a two-story building surrounded with broad piazzas and embowered in flowering trees.

Diagonally across from the consulate lay the little park where the elite of Salina Cruz congregated nightly for the evening promenade so characteristic of Latin life. A broad walk bordered the park and there in the cool of the evening, their beauty half revealed and half concealed by the electric lights, the belles of the town foregathered and promenaded under the watchful eyes of their elders. A difficult trysting place you may perhaps think, yet this was the recognized courting place of the town. All the young gallants were there, tipping their hats, politely accosting the young ladies as they passed, and exchanging covert glances. This is about the limit of which courting is permitted among the upper classes of the tropics, and yet I doubt not but that the young people have adjusted themselves to these conditions and get just as far as their northern cousins do with their freer manners.

This evening function is not at all exclusive. True, only those of the upper class promenade, but the seats adjoining the walk are always filled with Indian men and women of the lower class, who seem to extract as much enjoyment from the pageant as the elite themselves.

A block beyond the consulate we come to the Hotel Salina

Cruz, the town's leading hostelry. Here, except for short trips to Tehuantepec, San Geronimo, and other cities of the vicinity, I abode during my year's stay on the Isthmus. A detailed description of the hotel is given further on in our narrative ; suffice to state at this point that I was careful to choose a room on the north side of the building, that most remote from the business center of the town.

As will appear later on, I had a canny reason for making this choice. The city cuartel or barracks was situated near the municipal center. Whenever the bandits, rebels or revolutionists — a species of individuals fairly numerous at that time — staged an attack on the town it was their custom to enter by detachments through the defiles of the surrounding hills, converging upon the cuartel. As soon as the garrison became aware of their approach a hail of lead belched from the cuartel and any civilian so unfortunate as to occupy a room with windows opening toward the cuartel was apt to be found by a stray ball. But the writer, sitting on the floor of his bedroom with three solid hotel walls intervening between him and the scene of operations, could smoke his pipe and await the outcome with philosophic equanimity.

At that time Salina Cruz was the only point at which travelers coming from the central plateau could secure passage to the west coast of South America. The only ships regularly carrying passengers to South America were those of the Japanese line, which only touched at Salina Cruz every second month; with the result that travelers were often detained at the hotel for several weeks. Early in the summer three individuals with whom I was destined to become intimately acquainted blew in from the plateau. Mr. Peter Allison of San Luis Potosi was on his way to Peru to take up his duties as superintendent at the Cerro de Pasco mine, and he had with him a tall Swede named Abrahamson and a young Scotchman whose surname I have forgotten, but whose first name was Angus. With that readiness to confer titles peculiar to the tropics we forthwith dubbed them Don Pedro, Don Abrahamson, and Don Angus.

Our friends were delayed many weeks awaiting ship. Presently time began to hang very heavily on their hands and they vented their spleen, as men will under such circumstances, upon the devoted republic in which they were unwillingly sojourning. Don Angus was the loudest in his complaints. He differed from any other Scot I have ever met in that money would not stick to him — in fact Don Pedro informed me that he could with difficulty prevent him from spending his last cent — but he was a typical Scotchman in being frank to bluntness.

"When the devil is that ship ever going to put in her appearance?" he would exclaim. "Here we are, marooned in this miserable hole with every avenue of escape cut off. No escape by sea, or by land either, for the whole country is literally alive with rebels and bandits. It's Peru for me ; Peru, where they have no revolutions and where the natives tumble over one another to favor a Gringo !"

At that time, the three dons were the only English-speaking guests at the hotel, but I, who have a ready knowledge of that tongue, could see from the worried looks of our fellow guests that they understood enough of the language to know that Peru and Mexico were being compared to the detriment of their own country. So when Don Angus got too uproarious I would take up the cudgels for Mexico, dwelling upon its salubrious climate and the urbanity of its people. But I never got far with this line of talk. Don Pedro and Don Abrahamson invariably came to the support of their companion and listening to them it was not long before I began to picture Peru as a veritable paradise.

After having sung the glories of Peru for a full month their ship came into port and the three dons took their departure. I verily never expected to see them in this world again^ — ■ nor, since they were unbelievers, in the other world either. What, then, was my surprise when, four months later and a few minutes after a northbound Japanese liner had entered port, the hotel entrance was darkened by no less a personage than the redoubtable Don Pedro of San Luis Potosi. The wild Scot was at his heels.

"Well, well! What brings you fellows back so soon?" I asked as we shook hands. "You have barely had time to go to Peru and return."

"That's where you're right," Don Pedro responded. "We had barely reached Cerro de Pasco when the thin air at that high altitude — you know it's 14,000 feet above sea level — got the better of me and I had to beat it for the coast. Barely reached there in time to save my life. And Abrahamson met with an accident and smashed his ribs, and Angus was totally disgusted with the country. Take it from me, we're mighty glad to see the shores of good old Mexico once more ; eh, Angus, my boy?"

"I should say we were," responded that young man. "Mexico looks good to me. Seems like home to be back in a civilized land once more."

All that day and evening they sang the glories of Mexico, nor was there a word said of the "revolutions," "vile climate," and "beastly winds" of the Isthmus. It was neither the first nor the last occasion upon which I have known men's thoughts to color their surroundings. In the morning they took their departure for San Luis Potosi and a few days later Abrahamson, landing from the next boat, followed in their wake.

The city's present population does not exceed three thousand souls, of which at least two-thirds are full-blooded Indians. There are not more than two hundred pure whites, and of these the Europeans and Americans do not exceed a score, all told. There are small colonies of Syrian ('Turco") and Chinese merchants. The remainder of the population is mestizo. This latter term is misleading, for the Mexican does not follow the three-fold classification of population universal in works upon Mexico. To him there are but two classes, white and Indian, the mestizo (mixed blood) being accounted white. His viewpoint is correct, for the mixed blood almost invariably adopts the dress, customs, language, and ways of thinking of the white man. The mestizo, in these parts at least, is very dark, almost as dark as the Indian, but he is an Indian in no other respect.