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Updated: May 14, 2025
This plaster had been brought, in a crude state, twenty miles from the mountains to Tlaxiaco; had been calcined and ground there, by prisoners in the jail, and then sent fifteen miles to us over the mountains. We were interested in the men who brought it. One of them was a prisoner from the Tlaxiaco jail. He had been sentenced to ten days for drinking, and it was he who carried the plaster.
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.
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.
We told them that our duty was to send immediate complaint to Tlaxiaco; that we would, however, give them one more chance. We should not stop for breakfast, but would proceed upon our journey hungry; if, however, we sent him further orders regarding our return journey, we should expect them obeyed to the very letter. With this we mounted.
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.
We had finished our measurements and photographs, but there had been no sign as yet of the plaster; concluding that Señor Cordova had forgotten his promise, we were prepared to leave town early the next morning. After dark two men came from Tlaxiaco, one of whom brought sufficient plaster for making two good busts.
From Tlaxiaco to Teposcolula, there was a cart-road, though it was possible that no carreta ever passed over it. It presented little good scenery. We passed the pueblos of San Martin Jilmeca, San Felipe, and San Miguel. Just before reaching the first of these towns, the road passes over a coarse rock mass, which weathers into spheroidal shells.
A long and rather gentle slope downward led to a valley filled with neat farm-houses and cleared patches. Our last ascent brought us to a mass of rounded hills, composed of brilliant clays yellow, brown, pink, red and white. From among these hillocks Tlaxiaco, a magnificent picture, burst into view.
It is compactly built; the flat-topped houses are white or blue-tinted; trees are sprinkled through the town; the old convent, with the two towers of its church, dominates the whole place; a pretty stream flows along its border; and a magnificent range of encircling mountains hems it in on all sides. The descent was rapid, and we reached Tlaxiaco with the morning but half gone.
Nowhere in our journey in southern Mexico had we met with the kind of scenery which we encountered between Magdalena and Tlaxiaco; its whole character was like that of New Mexico. Directly behind the town was a fine cart-road, worn in red sand pumice; before the town rose a magnificent cliff, which had been a landmark in our journey of the day before.
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