From San Pedrito the road is over a soft rock, which produces, when worn, a white glaring trail.  The country through which we passed was fertile.  Everywhere were fields of grain, wheat, oats, and, as we were descending into the lower land, corn.  The little watch-houses for guarding the newly-sown fields are a striking feature of the landscape.  In the higher districts they were small, conical or dome-shaped structures, made of the leaves of the maguey, and hardly large enough for a man to lie down in.  Lower down, these were replaced by little rectangular huts, only a few feet across, with thatched roofs, the whole construction being raised on poles ten or twelve feet above the ground.  It was scarcely more than noonday when we reached Nochixtlan, where the jefe of the district lives.  Telling him that we desired to visit Yodocono and Tilantongo, he wrote orders for us, and charged some indians of Tidaa to show us the road, so far as they were going.  The country through which we passed was a continuation of that preceding Nochixtlan.  The road was nearly level, with but slight ups and downs, until a little before we reached our destination, when we had an abrupt up-turn to Yodocono, a pretty town on the border of a little lake, which has but recently appeared, and which covers an area which a few years ago was occupied by cultivated fields.  Our letter from the jefe introduced us to Don Macario Espinola, a mestizo, owner of the chief store in the village, who showed us gracious hospitality.  We were guests of honor.  The parlor was surrendered to our use; the chairs were placed in such a way that, when supplied with mattress, sheets, and blankets, they made capital beds.  Our meals were good.  Don Macario, on hearing the purpose of our visit, placed himself entirely at our disposition.  Unfortunately, he gained the idea that the people whom we wanted for measurement and photography were old folk, and the most astonishing collection of aged men and women was summoned from every part of the village and surrounding neighborhood, and all had to be measured, although the measurements were afterwards discarded.

[Illustration:  YODOCONO]

Leaving Yodocono at ten the following morning, we rode to Tilantongo.  Though assured that the road was over a district as level as a floor, we found a good deal of up-hill riding.  Tilantongo itself, with 2,266 inhabitants, is located upon the further slope of a hill, and but few houses were in sight until we were actually in the town.  The public buildings surrounded a small open space, in the centre of which is a stone sun-dial.  One side of this little plaza is occupied by the schoolhouse; the town-house and jail occupy the rear.  The town is built upon a horseshoe-shaped, sloping ridge, and the church is at the edge of the town, at one of the very ends of the horseshoe.  Riding to the town-house, we presented our documents to the presidente, and ordered dinner for ourselves and food for the