d called us at two to a chicken dinner. It was
interesting to watch the _carreteros_ in the grove. The scenes of
starting and arriving, packing and unpacking, chaffing and quarreling,
were all interesting. In the lagoons of Vera Cruz, our boatmen applied
the term _jornada_ to a straight stretch across a lagoon made at one
poling; here among the _carreteros_, the word _jornada_ means the run
made from resting-place to resting-place. In neither case is strict
attention paid to the original meaning of the word, a day's journey.
Ixhuatlan is a made town; a paternal government, disturbed over the no
progress of the pure Juaves in their seaside towns, set aside the ground
on which this town now rests, and moved a village of Juaves to the
spot. High hopes were expressed for the success of the experiment; now,
however, the town is not a Juave town. It is true, that a few families
of that people still remain, but for the most part, the Juaves have
drifted back to the shore, and resumed their fishing, shrimp-catching
and salt-making, while the expansive Zapotecs have crowded in, and
practically make up the population of the place. Between dinner and
our starting, we wandered about the village, dropping into the various
houses in search of relics. As elsewhere, we were impressed with the
independent bearing and freeness of the Zapotec woman. She talks with
everyone, on any subject, shrewdly. She loves to chaff, and is willing
to take sarcasm, as freely as she gives it. In one house we had a
specially interesting time, being shown a lot of things. The woman had
some broken pottery figures of ancient times, but also produced some
interesting crude affairs of modern make from Juchitan. These were
figures of men and women--the latter generally carrying babies in indian
fashion--of horses and other animals. As works of art, they make no
pretension, but they are stained with native colors, and are used as
gifts at New Year's by the common people. Here we saw the making of
baked _tortillas_, and sampled some hot from the oven. Such _tortillas_
are called _tortillas del horno_--oven _tortillas_. Flat _tortillas_,
about the size of a fruit-plate, are fashioned in the usual way; a great
_olla_ is sunk in the ground until its mouth is level with the surface.
This is kept covered by a _comal_, or a smaller _olla_, and a good hot
fire of coals is kept burning within. When the _tortillas_ have been
shaped, they are stuck on the hot _olla_, being