latter generally carrying babies in indian fashion—­of horses and other animals.  As works of art, they make no pretension, but they are stained with native colors, and are used as gifts at New Year’s by the common people.  Here we saw the making of baked tortillas, and sampled some hot from the oven.  Such tortillas are called tortillas del horno—­oven tortillas.  Flat tortillas, about the size of a fruit-plate, are fashioned in the usual way; a great olla is sunk in the ground until its mouth is level with the surface.  This is kept covered by a comal, or a smaller olla, and a good hot fire of coals is kept burning within.  When the tortillas have been shaped, they are stuck on the hot olla, being pressed against the sides, to which they adhere, and are left to bake.  In baking, the edges curl up so that the cake, instead of being flat, is saucer-shaped.  They are crisp and good.  Leaving at four, we continued on the hot, deep, dusty road, but saw interesting plants and animals along the way.  There were fine displays of the parasitic fig, from examples where the parasite was just beginning to embrace its victim, through cases where it had surrounded the tree with a fine network of its own material, to those where the original tree-trunk was entirely imbedded in the great continuous gray investing trunk of the parasite, now larger than its host.  Some trees bore bunches of pale-purple flowers of tubular form, which fell easily from the calyx, and dotted the ground along the roadside.  Other trees appeared as if covered with veils of little purplish-red flowers hung over them.  Others were a mass of golden bloom, the flowers being about the size of cherry blossoms.  A few trees, yet leafless, showed large, brilliant white flowers at the tips of rather slender branches.  At Ixhuatlan, we saw the first monkey’s comb of the trip.  This orange-yellow flower, growing in clusters so curiously shaped as to suggest the name, is among the most characteristic, from this point on through Chiapas into Guatemala.  There were but few birds, but among them were macaws and toucans.  Eustasio said that in the season, when certain berry-bearing trees are in full fruit, the latter may be seen by hundreds.

When night had really fallen, I unwisely sat in front with the driver, to prevent his sleeping, and to keep the animals moving.  Both drivers had a way of dozing off, utterly regardless of the movements of the animals or the dangers of the road.  Carts going in opposite directions must often depend absolutely upon the oxen for their chance of escaping collisions or being thrown over precipices.  Frequently the animals themselves stop, and the whole company is at a standstill until the driver wakes up.  In this jornada, we had planned to reach La Frontera, the border of the state of Chiapas, at which place we had been promised we should arrive at 8:30 in the morning.  Everything had gone well, and we were