ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 



101 



altogether the best, although I enjoyed both. The Mexicans are also 

 very fond of meats which are cooked almost as soon as killed, and there- 

 fore, apt to be tough. In their cooking they use a great deal of lard 

 and make a greasy compound that a gringo stomach finds hard to digest. 

 I think it was at Tula that we got a first sight of Mexican opals. 

 It is well known that almost every visitor to the land of the Aztecs has 

 a vision of the purchase of opals at an exceedingly low price, and the 

 best of stones at that. It was here that we all had our chance. Several 

 dark hued vendors showed packages of stones that were beauties. The 

 asking price was high, however, and was lowered only when the train 

 began to move. We all knew what this meant. A hurried assent, the 

 transfer of the coin and the package of opals, and the subsequent dis- 



SNOW CAPPED ORIZABA 



covery that another package of less valuable stones had been deftly sub- 

 stituted. So we all refused to purchase. Did I say all? One shrewd 

 Yankee watched his chance, made his purchase, and came back chuckling. 



"I fixed that moxo" he said; "I gave him four big Mexican cents 

 instead of as many quarters." When he opened his packet, however, 

 his face fell, for it contained only common pebbles. 



A few miles south of this we had a fine view of the great Nochis- 

 tongo Canal, which in some parts is six hundred feet wide and two hun- 

 dred feet deep. It was begun back in 1608, as a drainage canal for the 

 valley of Mexico. The railroad runs for miles by the side of it, and 

 when one appreciates the fact that every bit of the earth was taken out in 



