poles of the roof framework and then beating them firmly home. Many of
the helpers had come considerable distances and spent the night, so that
we shared our room with quite a dozen men and boys, while the women and
children slept in another house.

Passing through Zanatepec, we stopped for Sunday at Tanatepec. Here we
found ourselves again upon the low coast road. It was, however, our last
point of low altitude, as from there we struck inland over a higher,
cooler, and more interesting mountain road. At Zanatepec we first saw
the _marimba_ played. This musical instrument, unquestionably African
in name and origin, is hardly found north of Chiapas, but is extremely
common through Central America. It consists of a wooden frame supporting
keys made of wood and metal, each of which gives forth its own note when
struck with small hammers. Below the keys of lowest tone are hung tubes,
pipes, or gourds, as sounding boxes to increase the sound produced by
striking the key. Usually four players perform at one time, each using
two or more little hammers. The music is rapid and brilliant, somewhat
resembling that of the piano. The instrument usually has some fanciful
name, which is painted upon it. The one at Tanatepec was _La Azteca_
(The Aztec Lady), while our next one was _La reina de las flores_ (The
queen of the flowers). At Zanatepec, _La Azteca_ was an advertising
part of a traveling circus. The troupe consisted of three men and
three women, the latter of whom seemed to be mulattos. The men were
ridiculously garbed and painted to represent wild indians. The real,
live indians, who followed these clowns in delighted crowds, enjoyed
thrills of terror at their whoops, fierce glances, and wild antics,
and assured us that these actors were, if not the real thing, at least
wonderfully accurate impersonations of the natives of the _Estados
unidos_ (United States)--the land of the "Apaches."

From Tanatepec we were in Chiapas, the southernmost state of the
republic. We struck out over a fine mountain road, _passable for carts_
all the way to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the state. Our first
ascent was over a magnificent mountain mass of syenite, which at some
places seemed to be as fine as our own Quincy stone. The road, with many
short zigzags, made a remarkably abrupt ascent, and, having reached the
crest, wound like a vast serpent along the summit. As we descended into
the following valley, we encountered a beautiful deer,