are attached by a
wooden bar reaching across their frontlets and lashed to the roots of
the horns by leather thongs. The skins of animals, such as goats, sheep,
and swine, are universally employed for transporting and storing
liquids, precisely as in Egypt thousands of years ago. The daily supply
of pulque is brought to market on the natives' backs in pig-skins, the
four legs protruding from the body in a ludicrous manner when the skin
is full of liquid. Everything in and about the city is quaint, though
the telephone, electric lights, and street tramways all speak of modern
civilization. The insufficient water supply is the cause of much
inconvenience, not to say suffering, and partly accounts for the untidy
condition of the place and the prevalence of offensive smells. The
latter are so disgusting as to be almost unbearable by a stranger. No
wonder that typhoid fever and kindred diseases prevail, and that the
death rate exceeds, as we were told is the case, that of any other
district in the republic.

There is an article of pottery manufactured in this vicinity, of a deep
red color, hard-baked and glazed inside and out, having rude but
effective ornamentation. Almost every large town in Mexico has one or
more pottery manufactories, each district producing ware which is so
individualized in the shape and finish as to distinctly mark its origin,
so that experts can tell exactly whence each specimen has been brought.
The manufacture of pottery is most frequently carried on by individuals,
each Indian with his primitive tools turning out work from his mud
cabin sometimes fit to grace the choicest and most refined homes. The
accuracy of eye and hand gained by long practice produces marvelous
results.

Overlooking the city, on a mountain ridge known as the Buefa, is a quaint
and curious church, Los Remedios. From this point one obtains a very
comprehensive view of the entire valley and the surrounding rugged
hills. One of the most bloody battles of the civil wars was fought on
the Buefa in 1871, between a revolutionary force under General Trevino
and the Juarez army, which resulted in the defeat of the revolutionists.
"Both sides fought with unprecedented frenzy," said a resident to us.
"From those steep rocks," he continued, pointing to the abrupt
declivities, "absolutely ran streams of blood, while dead bodies rolled
down into the gulch below by hundreds." We ventured to ask what this
quarrel between, fellow countrymen