Nowhere, as in this region, have we had so much difficulty with regard to animals.  The demands were so exorbitant that we insisted upon the jefe making the arrangements.  He received us in anything but a pleasant mood, but acceded, and finally we secured four horses and four mules, for which we were to pay for two full days, and a foot mozo to whom we also were to pay two full days’ wages.  As the jefe himself had made this arrangement, we consented to it, but the man who was outfitting us then demanded pay for the mozo who went to bring back the horses and for the fodder of the animals.  At this, even the jefe balked, declaring that he was not in favor of really robbing the gentlemen.  Paying him the seventeen dollars and twenty-five cents, in order that there might be no further discussion, we started.  Just as we left, the man who supplied the animals decided that our loads, which before had been so large, were really not too large for three mules, which number was actually sent with us, though we had paid for four.  We were ready for starting at seven, but it was ten before we left.  Meantime, clouds had gathered, and just as we started, rain began.  There were first several separate showers, and then a steady downpour, which lasted almost till we reached Pahuatlan.  All the blankets had been packed away, and we rode through the rain until our clothes were drenched through and through.  For three hours this continued, and it was impossible to see anything of the country through which we passed.  Finally, however, as we reached a great crest, and looked down into the valley beyond, the sky was clear and we could see something of the scene about us.  The descent we were to make, and the slope in front, were covered with sugar-cane, broken here and there by great patches of pineapples.  With each plantation of sugar-cane there was a little shelter of poles under which was a sap-trough or boiling-tank, while at the side of and behind the shelter was a rude mill, the power for which was furnished by a yoke of oxen.  Boys fed the fresh cane between the crushing rollers, and the sap, as it ran out, was carried in little troughs to vats.  Not at all these little shelters was sugar-making in progress, as we passed, but over both slopes many columns of smoke indicated places where the work was going on.  The fire in the vat kept the sap boiling, and a man standing near with a great ladle, pierced with holes, kept dipping up and pouring out the hot sap.  When we started up the great ascent we had no hint of Pahuatlan, and, when we reached the summit, could see nothing of it.  But hardly had we begun the descent before we saw the large and handsome town below, but still with a long slope and a sharp ascent to be passed, before we could reach it.  From the brook-side, at the bottom of the valley, almost to the village itself, we passed through a dense growth of bananas, which seemed to have suffered some damage, as many were dry and yellow, and individual