104 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



is for sale here, coffee there. That lady whose long jet black 

 hair is so industriously being hunted through by her friend, 

 who, while busy with her fingers, holds the wooden comb 

 between her teeth, has a sweetmeat stall, and is apparently 

 doing a good business with her tempting-looking pink and 

 yellow bonbons; she also provides thirsty people with various 

 drinks, already prepared and displayed in tumblers by her side. 

 These are harmless, consisting mainly of sugar and water to 

 which a little flour or some fruit-juice has been added. Now 

 we come to the pottery department, well supplied with earthen- 

 ware vessels of every shape and size, some glazed and prettily 

 ornamented. Most of these are made in the neighbouring 

 village of Chinaltla, in the most primitive manner and entirely 

 by hand. The larger jars are built up of clay piecemeal, 

 very roughly at first, and then scraped down to the requisite 

 thickness by means of a cup-shaped calabash; having been 

 dried in the sun, the vessel is baked in a fire. Much of this 

 pottery is not only handsome in shape, but also in design ; 

 thus some water-jugs intended for the table were tastefully 

 ornamented with flowers, leaves, and fruit in relief. Some time 

 before leaving England I had seen ladies embellishing jars in 

 a similar manner by means of putty and paint ; at home it was 

 something new, in Chinaltla probably the Indian women had 

 been thus employed hundreds of years ago. In the second 

 square was established an open-air restaurant, the proprietor of 

 which seemed readily to dispose of his soups, meat and vegetable 

 dishes, supplied hot, direct from the fire. The small portions 

 were cheap, but did not look sufficiently tempting to invite a 

 trial. The life and colouring of this market are impossible to 

 describe, they require to be witnessed, and to a painter's eye 

 would be full of the greatest charm. Here we were particularly 

 struck by the picturesque national dress of the Indian women, 

 which in colour, manner of wearing, &c., differs with every 

 village. Look at that woman from Chinaltla selling those pretty- 

 shaped jugs; she wears her village tartan, a large check of 

 orange and crimson; that girl coming in with a basket of 

 plantains and oranges from the coast region is attired in a 

 petticoat of blue and black, her neighbour in one striped blue 

 and white, and so on. This petticoat (" enagua ") is simply a 

 square piece of cotton cloth wound tightly over the hips and 



