It was nine o’clock before we started on our journey in the morning.  We had three long hours of clambering up and down heavy slopes, and, much of the way, through a stream the bed of which was filled with slippery boulders and pebbles, over which the horses slipped and stumbled frightfully.  Our horses slid down small cascades, but, when we came to larger ones, we had to mount the banks by ugly bits of road, descending below the falls.  After much labor and weariness, we reached El Parian at noon.  Having rested through the hotter portion of the day, we took the road again at two.  We followed up the brook-bed to the point where another stream entered it, at an acute angle.  Up this stream we turned, and after following it a little, struck suddenly up a steep hill, and then climbed on and on over a good road, cut in the limestone rock, up and up, until we reached the very summit.  The vegetation here was a curious assemblage,—­palms, cedars, oaks, and a mimosa-like tree, formed the chief types.  The limestone rock upon the summit was curiously eroded, as if by rain rills.  The masses presented all the appearance and detail of erosion shown by the great mountain mass of the country itself; looking at one of these little models, only a few feet across, and then gazing out upon the great tangle of mountain peaks around us, one could almost imagine that the one was the intentional reproduction of the other, in miniature.  For a long time we followed the almost level summit; then a little climb and a slight descent brought us to Huaclilla.  At the meson we found real rooms and true beds, and decided to stay for the night.  The supper was less attractive.  A brief walk about the village brought to light two cases of small-pox, and, on returning to the meson, we were charmed to find a third one in the building itself.  Still, we slept well, and were up betimes next morning.  The country through which we were passing was Mariano’s pais (native land).  Assuming that his knowledge was adequate, we left our meson early, with the intention of breakfasting at San Pedrito, where we were assured that everything was lovely; we were also told that it was but a short distance.  The road thither was through a high open country, planted to wheat and oats and with some maguey.  The road was discouragingly long, but after at least three hours of constant riding, we reached precious San Pedrito, chiefly notable for the amount of pulque drunk there.  It was with the greatest difficulty that we succeeded in getting anything to eat; the breakfast was certainly worse than the supper of the preceding night.  With the prevalence of maguey as a cultivated plant, the appearance of the houses and other buildings changed, as all of them were thatched with the broad, long, sharp-pointed leaves of the famous plant.  Everyone in the district carries tinajas, or little sacks woven from splints of palm.  Here, for the first time, we noticed that many of these had decorated patterns worked in black splints on the lighter ground.  The blackness of these splints is given by exposure to the smoke of burning pine.  Carrying-straps, also made of palm, are used for adjusting these tinajas to the back.