e's heart, and she will hardly hear of leaving him to return
home. The doctor accompanied us on our first visit to San Blas, and told
us many things, not only of the Juaves, but of the Zapotecs and other
indians of the region.

From the hotel, in the heart of Tehuantepec, to the town-house of San
Blas, is a walk of only twenty minutes. Here for three days we did
our work, returning to our hotel for meals and lodging. The work went
easily, the men presenting little or no objection to our operations;
measurements, busts, portraits--all were taken. On the whole, the
Tehuantepecanos do not present a simple, pure indian type. The women
seemed to be purer than the men. The _secretario_ at San Blas has been
to school. He is one of the few indians of the district who has taken an
interest in the study of his native tongue. He has already published a
grammar of the Zapotec, as spoken in his village. He has also printed a
little tract for lovers, in which high-sounding phrases are translated
from the Spanish into Zapotec. He has also prepared, and holds in
manuscript, a dictionary of the dialect containing some 4,000 words.

The visit to the Juaves we considered one of the most important and
interesting of our journey. These people are conservative, and among
the least known of the native populations of Mexico. There are but four
towns, with a total population of probably less than three thousand
persons. These towns are situated at a few leagues' distance from
Tehuantepec, near the Pacific, upon narrow tongues of land, washed by
salt lagoons. The nearest, largest, and according to Dr. Castle, the
most conservative of the four towns, is San Mateo del Mar. We had hoped
that Dr. Castle might accompany us on our journey. This, however, was
impossible, but he suggested that he would go with us part of the way.
To avoid the great heat, we travelled by night, as there was moonlight.
Hiring a _carretero_ at San Blas, we loaded our materials and
instruments into the cart, and started it upon its way. At about four
o'clock in the afternoon, we rode from Tehuantepec, taking a roundabout
road in order to see the hill which gives name to the town. It was
Sunday, and many women and girls had been visiting the cemetery,
carrying bowls filled with flowers to put upon the graves of friends. We
saw numbers of young fellows sitting by the roadside, and learned that
they were the lovers of the young women, awaiting their return from the
cemetery.