; they have neither speed nor endurance,
and they run heavily. It is astonishing how small the bones of their
limbs are, especially among the females, though this, by the way, is
the case with all the Indians I have visited. A Cora woman made for
me a shirt as an ethnological specimen, which I thought she must have
made too small at the wrist-bands, as they measured about 4 3/4 inches
(barely twelve centimetres); but she showed me how well they fitted
her. Still they always have well-developed hips and better figures
than the Mexican women. The teeth of the Coras are not always perfect;
I have seen several individuals whose front teeth were missing.

Strange to say, in spite of the high elevation, there is fever and
ague here; the alcalde told me that he had an attack every second day.

As Easter was at hand, there was quite a concourse of people, nearly
300 Indians assembling. Oxen were killed, and general eating and
feasting went on. I attended the communal feast, and dishes of food
were brought to me. In accordance with the Indian custom not to eat
much on the spot, I had my men carry some of the food to the camp,
as a welcome addition to our monotonous diet and scanty stores; and
we found that, aside from the usual Indian dishes, they comprised
bananas, salted fish, honey, and squashes.

The authorities newly elected for the ensuing year gave a similar
entertainment to their predecessors in office. At the home of the
"Centurion," the principal official of the Easter festival, a rustic
table and benches had been erected outside of the house. I was invited
to sit down among the men of quality, and it was phenomenal to be
present at an Indian banquet served on a table, the only occasion of
the kind in my experience. As the table was small, the diners were
served in turns, one set after another. Each guest had a man to wait on
him, but there was neither table-cloth nor knife, fork nor spoon. It
was, if you like, a _dejeuner a la fourchette_, except that you were
supposed to handle the solid food with pieces of tortilla, that were
broken off, folded over, and used as a fork, or rather, spoon, and
were eaten with the meat. After the meat had all been fished out,
you drank the soup from your bowl or plate. If you could not manage
with the tortilla, you were excused for using your fingers. When
a bowl or plate was set before an Indian guest, the latter took it
up and immediately handed it to his wife, standing behind him,