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In vain the presidente and officials begged us to wait, promising that everything should be prepared. Time was too precious, and away we rode. 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.
Immediately after breakfast, in accordance with our order previously sent, we were taken to see a potter at work. Cuquila is famous for two lines of manufacture, pottery and woolen garments. The pottery here made is skillfully shaped into wonderfully large vessels of different forms. The product goes throughout this whole district, and even down to the Pacific coast, a hundred miles distant.
Along the roads it is a common thing to meet parties of three or four men carrying great loads of water-jars, large bowls, etc., for sale or trade. While we were inspecting the potter's work, a slight shock of earthquake, almost too gentle to be noticed, passed through the place. At Cuquila, we found that we should not meet Señor Cordova at Tlaxiaco.
The plaster for our bust-making had not yet been received, but Señor Cordova promised, in case it came, to forward it after us promptly, and, in case it did not come, to send twenty miles into the mountains for the raw plaster, which he would have prepared and sent on to Chicahuastla. It was late in the afternoon, before we started for Cuquila, where we planned to pass the night.
He had passed through the town the night before, on his way to Juxtlahuaca, with a band of soldiers to assist his neighboring jefe in maintaining order. Leaving our Cuquila reprobates in friendly and gentle mood, we started for Tlaxiaco, where we arrived at half-past two.
Close by Don Guillermo's house was the miserable little village plaza, where the women of the town assembled with corn-cakes and other articles for trade. There, they met the travelling peddlers coming from Tlaxiaco, from Cuquila and the coast, and drove their bargains, mostly a matter of trade, not purchase, with them.
Two days before, we had sent word to the authorities at Cuquila, that we should breakfast with them on our way back to Tlaxiaco, and ordered them to be ready for our coming. This was the opportunity which had been promised them for redeeming themselves and avoiding complaint to their jefe.
It was a mistake to make so late a start. For a time, the road was fairly level, but at last we went up a brisk ascent, reaching the summit near sunset. The road down would have been a bad one, even in the daytime. As it was, if we had not had a good moon, we could hardly have made the descent. From the depth of the cañon we ascended to Cuquila, thoroughly tired, somewhat before seven.
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