That we might not be too much delayed by this palaver regarding carriers, I had started the balance of the party ahead, and rode on alone after them.  They had left at 10:15, and we all had a hot, dry, dusty, thirsty mountain ride until five o’clock in the afternoon, when we reached the ranch, Las Vacas.  It consisted of a dozen houses.  We rode to the last one in the place, which consisted of brush and leafy branches, and had an enclosed corral adjoining it, where we asked for lodging.  The owner was a young Zapotec, who, with his wife, was strikingly neat and clean.  A little girl of seven was the only other member of the family.  The house had but a single room, but there was a coro, or cane platform, and loft.  Having fed our horses and eaten our own supper, I mounted to the loft, despite the advice of all the members of the party, who predicted smoke, heat, mosquitoes, fleas and other trials.  They stayed below.  There is no question that they fared worse from all the sources mentioned than myself.  The woman worked until midnight, making tortillas and cooking chicken for us to carry as luncheon on the road.  We had started by four in the morning, and pushed along over a mountain road.  The first portion of the road was well-watered, but afterward it became hot, dry, and stony.  Having gained the pass looking down upon the valley, we could see, at its further side, lying on a terrace, the pueblo of San Bartolo, stretching out in a long line near the front of a mighty mountain, upon which plainly our way would pass.  It was almost noon when we reached the municipal-house, and found that our carriers had already arrived, and left the luggage.  Here things were really quite as bad as at Tequixistlan, but here fortunately we had no work to do.  The town was Zapotec.  One might suppose, from its being upon the main high-road, that they would be accustomed to see strangers.  We have hardly found a population at once so stupid and timid.  It was with great difficulty that we found food to eat.  Here we had to pay for beds (made of sticks tied together), belonging to the municipality, a thing which we had never done at any other town in Mexico.

[Illustration:  VIEW FROM OUR CORRIDOR; SAN BARTOLO]

The people wear curious and characteristic garments.

All the stuff used for clothing is woven in the town, and not only the women’s camisas, but the men’s camisas and trousers, are decorated with elaborate designs—­birds, animals, and geometrical figures—­worked in various colors.  Even in purchasing examples of these clothes, we were compelled to make a vigorous display of our civil and religious orders.  After some bickering, we arranged for carriers to San Carlos, which is the cabecera of the district.  Starting by moonlight, at two o’clock in the morning, we struck out over the enormous mountain mass to which we have already referred.  Roads in the Zapotec country do not go directly up