ers to bring in the more important part of our
load; these, he insisted, should travel all night, and at eight o'clock
we found them at the hotel. In the darkness they had stumbled, and our
loads had fallen. Whole boxes of unused plates were wrecked, and, still
worse, many of our choicest negatives were broken. At nine o'clock the
missing _mozo_ appeared with the instruments; it is customary for our
carrier to keep up with the company, as we have frequent need of taking
views upon the journey; this was almost the only instance, in the
hundreds of leagues that we have travelled on horseback, over mountain
roads, where our carrier had failed to keep alongside of the animals, or
make the same time in journeying that we mounted travellers did.

[Illustration: THE JAIL; SAN CRISTOBAL]

[Illustration: TZOTZIL MUSICIANS IN SAN CRISTOBAL JAIL]

Though there had been an early mist, there was no lack of sunshine, even
before seven. Still, we did not go to the palace until nine o'clock, the
hour set. San Cristobal was formerly the capital of the state, and its
public buildings are more pretentious than usual in _cabeceras_. The
place in which we did our work was a building of two stories, filling
one side of the plaza. We worked in the broad corridor of the second
story, outside of the _secretario's_ office, from which our subjects,
mostly indians who had come to pay school-taxes, were sent to us for
measurement. The market-place of San Cristobal is characteristically
indian. Not only do the two chief tribes which frequent it--Tzotzils and
Tzendals--differ in dress, but even the different villages of each wear
characteristic garments. The Tzotzil of Chamula differs from his brother
of Huixtan and San Bartolome; the Tzendal women of Tenejapa, Cancuc and
San Andres may be quickly recognized by difference in dress.

Most interesting are the Tzotzils of Chamula. Though looked upon by the
_mestizos_ of San Cristobal as mere brutes and savages, they are notably
industrious. They weave heavy, woolen blankets and _chamaras_; they
are skilled carpenters, making plain furniture of every kind; they are
musicians, and manufacture quantities of harps, guitars, and
violins; they braid straw, and make hats of palm; they are excellent
leather-dressers, and give a black stain and polish to heavy leather,
which is unequalled by the work of their white neighbors. Men wear lower
garments of cotton, and heavy black woolen over-garments, which are
g