330 THE ADVENTURES OF 



" And are the donkeys laden ?" 



" Yes ; but the boys start without any burden." 



In an hour's time (an Indian never decides any thing 

 without much consideration) I arranged with my host that 

 he should transport to Puebla two cases in which I could 

 pack my valuables. 



Such a piece of good luck made us feel quite jolly ; for 

 by this means we were enabled to preserve the whole of 

 our collections, instead of throwing many of them away, as 

 had often before happened. 



We were now in want of cases, and Coyotepec had nei- 

 ther saw, hammer, nor nails ; but he gave me some rough 

 boards, on which we all set to work. 



L'Encuerado and Sumichrast smoothed the planks with 

 the help of two woodman's hatchets, while I cut pegs, all 

 laboring without intermission until the next evening. A 

 little before sunset we had succeeded in making two large 

 and tolerably light boxes, a task which, without proper 

 tools, was more difficult than any one could suppose who 

 had not undertaken it. 



Sunday, which was "Whitsunday, found us quite amazed 

 at our performance. L'Encuerado had succeeded in weav- 

 ing some mats to cover the cases, and preserve their con- 

 tents from the damp. About eleven o'clock our host's fam- 

 ily assembled in front of the hut; the women and young 

 girls were dressed in red or blue petticoats, with their 

 shoulders covered with embroidered cotton chemisettes: 

 and the younger boys were clothed in a sort of blouse 

 without sleeves. The grandmother was the last to make 

 her appearance, and she had a necklace of very valuable 

 pearls round her neck. The women wore ornaments made 

 of bits of rough coral, and their fingers were loaded with 

 silver rings. * 



" We always assemble together on Sunday at the hour 



