our goal.  As we started, he who had recognized the bust of Jesus insisted upon accompanying us a way for friendship, and on the journey made various wise remarks regarding the busts.  Hardly had we started when our men again rebelled; they would not make the journey for the price agreed upon, the risk was too great; they must be paid more, if they went at all.  I felt that patience had ceased to be a virtue.  Telling them that we would no longer go ahead, we ordered them to take up their burdens and precede us, at the same time threatening to shoot them, if they stopped without permission.  After marching along in this new order for a time, they indicated a desire to parley.  They would carry their burdens to the foot of the hill, where they would leave them by the brook-side.  We could then go on to the village of San Pedro and send back carriers to bring them.  To this proposition we gave no encouragement.  The descent was abrupt.  At the bottom was a fine brook, with a hanging bridge of vines swinging from tree to tree across it.  Here we stopped to drink the fresh cool water, cut some sugar-canes, catch butterflies, and take views.  One of the trees from which the vines hung was a perfect mass of ferns, orchids and bromelias of many kinds.  On the great slope back of us, toward the gap through which the brook had broken, were great cliffs of massive rock; otherwise the whole mountain slope was a sheet of richest green.  The ascent was long and difficult, and the party went slowly, with many rests.  It was amusing, how, even at this distance, as we mounted the slope, we could hear the constant beating of the mapaho in the village behind us, as if in rejoicing at our departure.  As we neared the summit, our carriers again made signals of a desire to converse.  They would fulfill their whole duty, and would carry their burdens to the town-house in San Pedro, but would we have the kindness, from here on, to take the lead?  Oh, yes, we answered, we would take the lead, and they should see that nothing would happen.  No one would harm us; we were not about to die.

To make a favorable impression, we asked for a drink of water at the first house we came to, and passed a greeting with the few men, women and children whom we met on our way into town.  The greater part of the population was at church, where we found a service in progress, and we were obliged to wait until it was over before we saw the town officials.  I told the secretario to summon the town government to the municipal-house, which was a small affair, no more than 15 or 18 by 20 feet, with walls of lashed poles and a palm roof.  A narrow bench ran around the four sides, and two tables, one long and one short one, set at right angles, occupied the greater portion of the open space.  A long wide bench was placed alongside of the larger.  At one end there was a santo, in a little shrine decorated with flowers and leaves.  A little fire was built upon the floor, over which wax was melting, in which candles were being dipped.