When the labor of the day was over, we stopped at the jefe’s office to inform him that we should continue work the following day, and emphasized the fact that we wished one hundred cases, and, as yet, had less than half that number.  We suggested that systematic arrangements would not only facilitate our labor, but would lessen his own task.  The result was evident; on the following day delegations, ordered by the jefe, and consisting of from six to a dozen persons each, began to come in from the outlying villages.  This made our work easy, indeed.  In one respect, Tlaxcala differs from all the other Mexican states with which we are acquainted.  Most of the people live in very little towns, which cluster around the larger places.  Thus, around the capital city, Tlaxcala, there are some seventeen of these small pueblos.

Working at the palace, we had secured almost no women for measurement.  Asking the advice of the cura, in the matter, he recommended that we should go to some one of the neighboring indian villages; that he would give us a letter to the juez and that, thus, we would secure our subjects easily.  He suggested San Estevan and wrote the promised letter to the juez of that village.  San Estevan is a pretty village, near the summit of some low gray hills of tufa, behind which rises a background of higher hills of the same material.  The slope is terraced for the houses, which are all built of adobe bricks and have flat roofs.  The “three part house,” of the ancient Aztec type—­god-house, kitchen, and granary—­is better shown in this state than almost any other part of the Republic.  The granary, or cuezcomate, is particularly characteristic.  It is built of clay, in the form of a great vase or urn, open at the top, above which is built a little thatch to shed rain and to protect the contents.  The cuezcomate is often ten feet high.  One or more of them is found in connection with every house.

[Illustration:  HOUSE AND CUEZCOMATE; LOS REYES]

The juez lived in a comfortable house of two rooms, half of which is used at present for the boy’s school, of which his son is teacher.  He received us graciously, and was pleased to receive a letter from the padre, though he stated it was not a government order and carried no actual authority; that if the women cared to be measured, well and good, but if not, no force could be employed.  The appearance of the camera, however, interested him; plainly, he desired to have a family group photographed; he hinted at this so broadly that, taking him to one side, I whispered that it was, of course, impossible to take family groups for everyone, but if we secured the twenty-five women without delay, notwithstanding the fact that we had no more authoritative document than a cura’s letter, the group should be taken.  The effect was immediate.  The police were summoned and sent through the village to bring in women for measurement and naught was said about their right of refusal.