TOWN OF YAUTEPEC. 127 



crooked, and the houses are built of stone, with tiled roofi, 

 as in many of the other towns we had visited. The streets 

 are paved with cobble-stones in a very uneven manner, and 

 resemble some of the streets in Philadelphia in this respect. 

 In the center of the town, near the river, is a good sized 

 plaza, with a fountain in the center. There are stone 

 benches about the square, and a band stand near the foun- 

 tain Flower-beds add to the beauty and picturesqueness 

 of the square. The buildings facing the plaza are mostly 

 used for government purposes, and are not very imposing. 

 A river runs through the town, and is crossed by a stone 

 bridge of good construction. Near the bridge a number 

 of women and men were bathing, the men on one side and 

 the women on the other, both destitute of bathing clothes. 

 It seemed rather strange to us, but was the custom, and, of 

 course, aroused no curiosity among the inhabitants. A 

 little way from the river is a large hill, called Cerro de 

 Calveria, which is used as a place of pilgrimage by the 

 inhabitants. There is a cross on its summit, and a stony 

 path leads to it, over which the devout natives crawl on 

 their hands and knees. 



. The banks of the river were lined with thick vegetation, 

 in which I distinguished the trees of the anona, date palm, 

 banana, and orange. The ash, tepiguaje, and parotilla 

 were very commonly seen. From the summit of the 

 Cerro de Calveria a magnificent view was obtained; at our 

 feet lay the town of Yautepec, with its curious winding 

 streets and queer houses; on the outskirts were seen beau- 

 tiful, green gardens of orange and banana trees laid out in 

 squares, and mixed in here and there were mangos, anonas, 

 and many other fruit trees of the tropics; in the background 

 rose the black and rugged peaks of the broken-down vol- 

 canoes, and behind these rose the loftly mountain range of 

 the Mexican Plateau, surmounted by the glistening white 



