Soon after leaving Cuquila we struck a fifty-minute mountain, the summit of which we made at nine o’clock exactly.  Here we sat in the shade and lunched on bread and pineapples, bought the day before in Tlaxiaco.  From the summit, there was a slow and gentle descent around that ridge, and then a slow incline along an endless ravine, until at last we came out upon a crest, from which we looked down upon one of the grandest mountain scenes of the world.  A valley of impressive size, surrounded by magnificent mountain masses, lay below us, and just to the right, at our feet, was Chicahuastla.  Few people in Mexico are so little known as the Triquis.  Orozco y Berra, usually a good authority, locates them near Tehuantepec, in the low country.  The towns which he calls Triqui are Chontal; the five true Triqui towns are in the high Mixteca.  The largest is the town which we were now approaching.  The Triquis are people of small stature, dark-brown color, black eyes, aquiline, but low and rather broad nose; they are among the most conservative, suspicious and superstitious of Mexican indians.  Most of them dress in native clothing, and all speak the Triqui and not the Spanish language.  As a people they are sadly degraded, through being exceptionally addicted to drink.

Don Guillermo Murcio is a character.  He and his family are almost the only mestizos in the place.  He is a hale and hearty blacksmith, and has lived for fifteen years in this purely indian town, where he has gained almost unbounded influence among the simple natives.  His word is law, and the town-government trembles before his gaze.  He is impetuous in manner, quick-tempered, and on the slightest suggestion of disregard of his commands, freely threatens jail or other punishment.  He received us cordially, and we lived at his house, where we were treated to the best that was available.

We have already referred to the beautiful location of Chicahuastla.  Its appearance is most picturesque.  Unlike the indian towns in the Mixteca which we had so far visited, it has many houses of circular form with conical roof.  It is possible that this style of construction is the result of African influence.  At Chicahuastla we were on the very summit of the great water-shed, and from it, when the air is clear, one may look down, over a sea of lesser summits and mountain ranges, to the waters of the Pacific.  Along the Pacific coast, in the state of Guerrero, are whole towns of Africans, descendants of slaves, who build their houses after the circular pattern, so common throughout the dark continent.  We did not find in the Triquis any admixture of African blood, but it is possible the mode of house-building may have been influenced by negro example.