y spun and wove cotton,
which they dyed with brilliant colors; they had a system of writing
which, while largely pictorial, contained some phonetic elements. They
are still a vital people, more than holding their own in the present
population, and forcing their native language upon the white invaders.
Nominally good Catholics, a great deal of old superstition still
survives, and they have many interesting practices and beliefs. The cura
presented me a _ke'esh_ of gold, which he took from the church, where
it had been left by a worshipper. It is a little votive figure crudely
made, commonly of silver; the word means "exchange," and such figures
are given by the indians to their saint or to the Virgin in exchange for
themselves, after some sickness or danger.

The ridge overlooking the town is of limestone, and is covered with a
handsome growth of trees and grass. The terrace on which the _hermita_
is built is flat and cleared; it is reached by a gently graded ascent,
with a flight of wide and easy steps, now much neglected. The little
building is dismantled, though there is some talk of reconstructing it.
Behind it is a well of vile and stagnant water, which is reputed to cure
disease. From the ridge a pretty view of Tekax is to be had, bedded in
a green sheet of trees. The town is regularly laid out, and presents
little of interest, though the two-storied _portales_ and the odd
three-storied house of Senor Duarte attract attention. There are also
many high, square, ventilated shafts, or towers, of distilleries. From
the terrace where we stood, in the days of the last great insurrection,
the indians swept down upon the town and are said to have killed 2,500
of the people, including men, women and children.

The school-teacher of the town is a man of varied attainments, being
also a photographer, watch-maker, medical-adviser, chemist, and so
forth. His house is full of scientific instruments--a really good
camera, a fine aneroid barometer, several thermometers, including
self-registering maximum and minimum, etc., etc. All seem excellent in
quality, but I could not learn that he makes any use of them, except
the camera. The _cura_, and the judge deride his possession of the
instruments, doubting whether he knows how to use them. They assert that
he has an apparatus for projection, for which he paid 1,000 pesos, which
has never yet been unpacked. When we called on him he showed us, by his
hygrometer, that the air was very