TWO NIGHTS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 79 



muy caliente. It was in the latter temperature that 

 we found ourselves at the expiration of the above- 

 named time, dripping with perspiration, roasting and 

 stewing in the heat. "NVe were surrounded by a new 

 world of plants and animals. The borax and man- 

 groves and fern were here as lofty as forest-trees, 

 whilst the trees themselves shot up like church 

 steeples. In the thickets around us were numbers 

 of black tigers we saw dozens of those cowardly 

 sneaking beasts iguanas full three feet long, squirrels 

 double the size of any we had ever seen, and panthers, 

 and wild pigs, and jackals, and apes and monkeys 

 of every tribe and description, who threatened and 

 grinned and chattered at us from the branches of 

 the trees. But what is that yonder to the right, that 

 stands out so white against the dark-blue sky and 

 the bronze-coloured rocks ? A town Quidricovi, 

 d'ye call it? 



"We had now ridden a good five or six leagues, and 

 begun to think we had escaped the aguas or deluge, 

 of which the prospect had so terrified our friends the 

 Tzapotecans. Rowley calculated, as he went puffing 

 and grumbling along, that it wouldn't do any harm 

 to let our beasts draw breath for a minute or two. 

 The scrambling and constant change of pace rendered 

 necessary by the nature of the road, or rather track, 

 that we followed, was certainly dreadfully fatiguing 

 both to man and beast. As for conversation it was 

 out of the question. "We had plenty to do to avoid 



