the first sight of them was enough for us, and we expelled them with shouts of execration.  We had to go to a shop in the square to get some supper; and on our return, about nine o’clock, our man Antonio remarked that he was going to sleep, which he did at once in the following manner.  He took off his broad-brimmed hat and hung it on a nail, tied a red cotton handkerchief round his head, rolled himself up in his serape, lay down on the flags in the courtyard outside our door, and was asleep in an instant.  We retired to our planks inside and followed his example.

The next afternoon we reached Toluca, a large and prosperous town, but with little noticeable in it except the arcades (portales) along the streets, and the hams which are cured with sugar, and are famous all over the Republic.  Our road passed near the Nevado de Toluca, an extinct snow-covered volcano, nearly 15,000 feet above the sea.  It consists entirely of grey and red porphyry, and in the interior of its crater are two small lakes.  We were not sorry to take up our quarters in a comfortable European-looking hotel again, for roughing it is much less pleasant in these high altitudes—­where the nights and mornings are bitterly cold—­than in the hotter climate of the lower levels.

Our next day’s ride brought us back to Mexico, crossing the corn-land of the plain of Lerma, where the soil consists of disintegrated porphyry from the mountains around, and is very fertile.  Lerma itself is the worst den of robbers in all Mexico; and, as we rode through the street of dingy adobe houses, and saw the rascally-looking fellows who were standing at the doors in knots, with their horses ready saddled and bridled close by, we got a very strong impression that the reputation of the place was no worse than it deserved.  After Lerma, there still remained the pass over the mountains which border the valley of Mexico; and here in the midst of a dense pine-forest is Las Cruzes, “the crosses,” a place with an ugly name, where several robberies are done every week.  We waited for the Diligence at some little glass-works at the entrance of the pass, and then let it go on first, as a sop to those gentlemen if they should be out that day.  I suppose they knew pretty accurately that no one had much to lose, for they never made their appearance.

[Illustration:  SPANISH-MEXICAN SPURS. From 5 to 6 inches long, with rowels from 2-1/2 to 3 inches in diameter.  The broad instep-strap of embossed leather is also shewn. (From Mr. Christy’s Collection)]

CHAPTER IX.

ANTIQUITIES.  PRISON.  SPORTS.

[Illustration:  STATUE OF THE MEXICAN GODDESS OF WAR (OR OF DEATH), TEOYAOMIQUI. (After Nebel).  Height of the original, about Nine Feet.]