ourselves at
Pantepec. We rode at once to the town-house, and were told that the
_presidente_ was sleeping; we went then to his house, where we were
informed that he could not be disturbed. We left word that we must see
him as soon as possible, and that he would find us at the _municipio_.
Nearly three hours passed before he put in his appearance. Inasmuch
as we had seen this man's _jefe_, and he knew our errand, we told
the _secretario_ to send a message for us to him at Huachinango. We
carefully wrote out the message for forwarding, in which we told the
_jefe_, that we had waited three hours for attention from the town
officials, and asked how much longer we should put up with delay. We
never heard his answer, but in less than ten minutes, the _presidente_,
covered with perspiration, was waiting for our orders and every
policeman or the force was ready for our bidding. The message he
received from the _jefe_ must have been vigorous, for not only was
everything done for our comfort, but work was rushed. During the next
day we measured ninety-eight men, photographed twelve subjects, and made
moulds for all our five busts--an unparalleled day's labor. We were
fortunate in one respect--that the men had been summoned that day for
public labor. So far as men were concerned, they gave no difficulty as
subjects. With the women it was different, and full half a day was taken
in getting together our twenty-five types; not but what there were
plenty of them, for our second day at Pantepec was market-day, and the
_plaza_ was gay with women, but they did not wish to be measured, and
the whole town force, from _presidente_ to the meanest _topil_, was
afraid to meddle with them; at first, too, we had none but the most
wretched cases, women broken down and worn out with years of labor. When
nearly half our number had passed through our hands, and all presented
this same unsatisfactory type, we were forced to make a sharp
remonstrance, and only so did we get fair samples of young and
middle-aged women.

At Pantepec the centre of the town is _mestizo_; the Indians consist of
Otomis, of whom there are thirty households, and Totonacs forming the
bulk of the population. It is easy to distinguish the women of the two
tribes by the difference in dress. The _quichiquemils_ are particularly
picturesque. Both are more heavily loaded with embroidery than any
Indian garments we had ever seen, but the styles of the two decorations
are completel