LOWER NEIGHBORS OF CART AGO 1 53 



man resting by the roadside, who was taking two large sacks 

 of oranges to market. He seemed delighted to lessen his 

 load hy some sixteen oranges, at a good price (nine cents) 

 and we were equally delighted to have the fruit. After an 

 hour's further riding I suddenly found ourselves on the road 

 over which P. and I had gone a few weeks previously and 

 it was not long before we began the steep, narrow zigzag 

 down to the farm lying by the Navarro River. 



We reached this farmhouse at 1.30 P. M. and rejoiced 

 in the prospect of food for ourselves and our horses for we 

 had brought no breakfast. There was no trouble about the 

 first — the old woman was glad to sell us beans, tortillas 

 and coffee — but there proved to be a difficulty about the 

 beasts. Corn there was none. Cane was growing close to 

 the house, so I asked next if we could buy enough cane for 

 our horses, their ordinary food in the stables being chopped 

 sugar-cane. "Si, Si, con mucho gusto," and the boy was 

 sent for "enough." But before he started to cut, a fourth 

 rider appeared and put his horse in the trapiche shed along 

 with ours but at a manger where chopped cane was ready. 

 And that ended our prospect of buying cane. The farmer 

 now told us that he could not sell us any as it was not his 

 own cane but the patron's. Yes, he had some himself but 

 it grew very far off, too far to send the boy and he — the 

 farmer — was sick, as indeed he looked. If the patron was, 

 as we strongly suspected, that fourth man, we could not see 

 why the farmer did not ask his permission to sell cane then 

 and there, but evidently there was more to it than appeared 

 on the surface. At all events the poor horses had only such 

 grass as they could pick up by the roadsides during our 

 numerous halts, and as a result were not anxious to travel 

 fast; in fact we had difficulty in getting them above a walk 

 most of the way home. 



Although I knew the place perfectly well, I did not recog- 



