othing spotted and striped with red. Their faces
were concealed by cloth. They walked rapidly, almost ran, through the
streets. They spoke to no one, and did nothing except to keep up a loud
and constant trilling of the most ridiculous kind. Packs of youngsters
chased behind and crowded upon them; they also pelted them with stones,
and the head of one of the maskers was bleeding quite profusely, but he
still kept up his headlong run and trilling. We had counted upon the
assistance of the _jefe_, but found him too dignified to receive us
outside of office hours, and therefore we arranged the matter of
our transportation to Huachinango. The price was high, the coach
inconvenient, and the _cochero_ unaccommodating. In vain we tried to
have all of our plaster taken in the load with us; only one-half could
go, the balance must follow the succeeding day. Finally, at about ten in
the morning, we lumbered heavily away, and were soon out of the town,
passing through a brown, hilly district, at first devoted to _pulque_
plantations, but further along becoming fine pastureland. Neat fields,
separated by bands of yellow, unplowed stubble, and true farm-houses of
good size, were striking features. We passed through quantities of pine
groves, and everywhere a cold wind blew strongly in our faces. At one
place, we were obliged to dismount and walk, on account of the sharp
descent, and found ourselves upon an ugly piece of limestone or
sandstone rock, which soon, to our surprise, we found replaced by a
solid mass of obsidian. The _cochero_, says that the place is known
as _itzlis_--the obsidians, the knives. It was 2:30 when we reached
Aguazotepec, where we called upon the _presidente_, and engaged a
_mozo_, for a _peso_, to convey our instruments the balance of the
journey, as we were completely tired out with carrying them upon our
knees. We also arranged with that official to forward the balance of
our stuff to Huachinango the following day. We also arranged to pay
for horses from Aguazotepec to Huachinango. Having eaten an excellent
dinner, when ready for resuming our journey, we discovered, with
surprise, that the stage was still our conveyance to Venta Colorado,
only a league from Huachinango. There we were to secure the animals
for which we had paid, though we were warned that only three could be
supplied. Manuel and Louis at once tossed coins to see which should
ride first. Although we had paid the full cost of the coach, two oth