128 Ten Years of my Life. 



their utmost to surmount incredible difficulties, and we des- 

 cended frequently^ partly to lessen their load, but still more to 

 escape for a while the severe shaking and bumping which was 

 too much even for us, though used to bad roads in the Ameri- 

 can war. 



The weather was, however, beautiful and not too hot, for we 

 had entered the region called Terra Templada. The woods 

 which we passed were beautiful, for all the trees were garlanded 

 up to their tops with a great variety of creepers with splendid 

 flowers of the most brilliant colours, vying with those of large 

 butterflies. It was a most charming wilderness, untouched by 

 the hand of man. To our right and our left we saw deep 

 valleys and gulHes overgrown with a confusion of luxuriant 

 trees and plants, concealing torrents of the foaming waters of 

 which we only now and then had a glimpse. 



One place on this road is called Salsi Puedes — ' Get out if 

 you can.' It was either here »)r at a similar place that our 

 diHgence broke down about noon. In the neighbourhood we 

 saw the hut of an Indian family. Though only built of reeds 

 and covered with aloe-leaves, havin:^ no windows but only a 

 door, it appeared to us far more inviting than any Mexican 

 pulqueria or even hotel, for it was shaded by beautiful trees 

 and overgrown with beautiful flowers, of which the Indians are 

 very fond. They are always to be found in great profusion 

 around their dwellings. 



The hut, which we entered, had moreover the extremely 

 rare advantage of scrupulous cleanliness, and the Indian couple 

 inhabiting it received us with great hospitality. They served 

 us tortillas, a kind of flat corn-cake, used everywhere in 

 Mexico instead of bread — several kinds of fruit and pulque, 

 the national drink of the Mexicans. It is made from the 

 maguey plant (Agave Americana), in Europe generally called 

 aloe, which with the different species of cacti, growing every- 

 where, give a Mexican landscape its quite peculiar character, 

 differing from that of any other country. 



The maguey seems to be expressly made for a lazy people 

 as all Mexicans are, either of Indian or European descent, for 

 it requires very litde culture, and furnishes a great many things 

 for common use. There are to be seen very large fields of this 

 plant everywhere, protected by natural fences of cactus plants 

 with most dangerous thorns, making them quite impenetrable. 



