om _uli_, and that formerly it
was much used in making strong and durable belts.

[Illustration]

In starting back the next morning, we went down a different slope from
the one by which we had come, with the result that we had to cross
the stream five times more than before, making the full forty-four
crossings, of which we had been warned by Culin while we were at
Huehuetla. We made our way leisurely, stopped when we pleased, and at
one point noticed a cave, which we had not seen before, just across the
stream, at a point where it was at its deepest. The cave was so near the
water's edge, that it could only be approached from the stream. The boys
swam across and entered it to see if perchance they might find some of
the paper figures used in _bruheria_. They found little of interest
within; the walls and rocks were marked with crosses, and on the floor
were hundreds of little sticks cut to various lengths. We were glad,
indeed, to reach Don Pablo's house, to eat his good supper, and to
occupy his good beds. Before we went to bed, Dona Panchita suggested
that we ought to see certain _munecos_ kept by a man named Diego, and
used as idols by the village. Accordingly, she sent orders that the man
should bring his _munecos_ to the house for us to see. To this request,
he returned the proper reply, that he would not do so; that they would
be offended; that they were not toys to be carried about at the nod and
beck of everyone. This greatly increased our interest, and we arranged
for a trip to his house. We first sent a messenger forward, with word
that we were coming, and ordered him to stay there to see that Diego
did not run away or hide the idols. After supper, Dona Panchita, our
company, Mr. and Mrs. Culin, and one or two others, picked our way by
moonlight across the stepping-stones and foot-bridge, up a trail by
coffee groves along a purling brook-side. We were soon at the house, and
after some hesitation, Diego led us to the Holy of Holies. The _munecos_
were kept in a little house, which contained an altar built of boards,
with fresh flowers for decoration. At the back of the altar, against the
wall, were prints of Christian saints; on the altar were censers and an
open bundle of _copal_. Two wooden boxes were at the right end of the
altar, against the wall. These contained _munecos_ which, for some
time, Diego hesitated to produce. Finally he took out an idol of rather
fine-grained, brownish-gray stone; the head wa