over this dangerous track, where they
could never have been rescued if they had lost their footing, I arrived
after a while at the home of the shaman, near which I camped. When I
went up to the house, I found it empty, and was barely in time to see
a woman making her escape with a child as best she could. I realised
that if the shaman did not return that evening or early next day,
I should have to return to Lajas. The plaintive trumpet sound of a
giant woodpecker about sunset--as far as we could make out, the only
living being in the vicinity--did not detract from the gloominess of
the prospect.

Luckily, however, my shaman friend came to my tent at daybreak next
morning, and thus relieved my anxiety. Though exceedingly busy cutting
down trees and shrubs to clear his field, he spared one of his helpers
to show me the way to Hormigas (ants), charging only three reales for
the accommodation, and one real extra (twelve cents in Mexican money)
to be paid to the man in case I should want him to go farther and show
me the way to Aguacates. I also improved the opportunity to get from
him some ethnological information and a short Tepehuane vocabulary.

Thus with lightened heart I started off through a country that, while
it did not present any remarkably steep ascents and descents, was
very rough and hard to travel. The main sierra is here very narrow,
and the large mountainous mass broken up into irregular ridges and
steep valleys. The next day, much of the time we followed a high,
rocky ridge, the highest point of which is called Mojoneras. Here,
ten miles north of Pueblo Viejo, the boundary line of the territory of
Tepic is said to run. For several miles on the road, and particularly
from the last-mentioned ridge, magnificent views of the wild country
northward present themselves, over the steep descent into the canons
and gorges of the western part of the Sierra Madre. Only three
Tepehuane ranches were observed.

I arrived without any mishap at Pueblo Viejo, which is inhabited
mainly by Aztecs. Of late years they have become much mixed with the
Tepehuanes, who have here taken refuge from drought and the advancing
"neighbours." Indian settlers who thus come from other pueblos are
called poblanos. They receive land from the community in return
for the services they render, and the two tribes freely intermarry,
although "neighbours" are never allowed to settle within the confines
of the village. Still the people, who have c