:::::::::C TWO BIRD- LOVERS IN MEXICO M^izz 



animals down a steep, rock-strewn cliff, a little com- 

 pany of mourners passed us in the twilight. At the 

 head of the company two men were carrying a tiny 

 coffin, slung between them, on a pole. We stopped 

 one of the followers and questioned him. He told us 

 that a little brother and sister were ramblino- alonsr the 

 depths of the barranca, when an ammo — a spirit 

 of the dead — appeared suddenly to them. The little 

 fellow dropped dead from fear, and his sister had 

 gone insane, raving ever of the terrible apparition. 

 Such was the pitiful story, reflecting the weight of 

 superstition which clouds the minds of these simjole 

 people. 



The wonder of the closing hours of this day will 

 ever remain a vivid picture to SeTiorUa and to me. 

 Even our stolid mozo, distracted by the vagaries of 

 two obstinate pack-mules, was strongly affected by the 

 scene. An unusually large quantity of white smoke 

 is pouring from the fire volcano, a few miles away. 

 After forming the usual flat, table-like mass above the 

 crater, this smoke drifts westward, and fills that whole 

 quarter of the heavens with soft, dense folds of palest 

 blue. The sun has been hidden for some time by these 

 clouds. Indeed, we have thought it already sunk be- 

 neath the horizon, when, unexpectedly, yet with the 

 deliberation of a planet's motion, it emerges, shines 

 for a moment with a full blaze of yellow light, then 

 mellows again into obscurity. 



<i 352 #* 



