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Comitan is the last town of consequence in Mexico, and has wide fame on account of its spirits, known at comiteco. There are scores of little distilleries in the town, many of them belonging to and conducted by women. Mexican paper money is useless between Tuxtla Gutierrez and Comitan. At the latter city it may be exchanged for silver, but with difficulty.

Personally, we saw no comparison between the two sets of women, the Tehuantepecanas being far superior. Eustasio, however, ungallantly and unpatriotically declared that he thought the women of Tuxtla the handsomer; however, we suspect that Eustasio would find the women of any town he might be in, the champions in beauty for the time being. Their dress is picturesque.

Tuxtla Gutierrez is a capital city. It is also a busy commercial centre. Of course, the population is for the most part mestizo, and not indian. We had been surprised at finding so many indians in the city as there were. We were yet more surprised to find to what extent the houses of the city, though admirably built, were truly indian in style, presenting many points of interest.

It is now, however, so much cooled down, that it is once more covered with vegetation; and even some small portions of the raised ground containing the ovens have been again brought under culture. Besides this volcano, so recent in its origin, Mexico contains other five Orizaba, Toluca, Tuxtla, Popocatepetl, and Colima.

Contrary to my usual experience, we had less difficulty in securing female subjects here than male. The male indians of Tuxtla are, in large part, employed in contract labor on fincas at a distance from the town. According to their contract, they are not subject to the order of local authorities, and may not be summoned without permission of their employers, or a pecuniary settlement with them.

As we rode up to capture him, I felt a hand at that coat pocket which contained our money-bag and, turning suddenly, found one of the guard trying to draw the bag of money from my pocket. I struck at him with my whip and he slunk away. The last day of travel before reaching Tuxtla Gutierrez, we passed one of the few pretty places on this dreary road, Agua Bendita.

East of this mountain lies Orizabo, little below it in height, and San Martin or Tuxtla, 9,700 feet high, on the coast south of Vera Cruz. West of it is Jorullo, 4,000 feet, and Colima, 12,800, near the Pacific coast. The volcanic energy continues southward toward the Isthmus, but decreases north of this volcanic range. These mountains have shown little signs of activity in recent times.

We left at 3:45 in the afternoon, but our ailing animal was worse than ever, and Eustasio ran ahead, trying to secure others at different ranches. He had had no success when, after a rough ride of several hours, we drew up at Jiquipilas, where we waited until the morning. We planned to secure new animals, to leave at dawn, and to reach Tuxtla after a twenty-four hour ride.

From the latter point, an ox-cart journey of ten nights, across the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, brought us to Tuxtla Gutierrez. By horse we continued through Chiapas to El Salto, where we took steamer for Frontera. From there, by steamer to Vera Cruz and then by rail, we traveled to the City of Mexico. Zoques, Tzotzils, Tzendals, and Chols were studied in this portion of the journey.

When I am with you we shall cut the boat adrift and let the vessel outsail us. Then we must make for the coast in the direction of Tuxtla. We shall know which way to steer because of the volcano. But after that why, I know not what we shall do." "Have you no plan?" "Marry, I have ideas.