::::::::hk CAMPING IN A BARRANCA ^:::::::: 



than liis own. Two mules were to be loaded with our 

 tents, cots, provisions, and other baggage, and we pre- 

 pared to start at daybreak for the wildest barranca on 

 the edge of the tableland. Our plan was to camp there 

 for a time, then to move to a lower altitude, and at 

 last to pitch our tents in the tropical lowlands beyond 

 the city of Colima. Thus we need never be out of 

 sight of the ever more wonderful volcano, and yet, by 

 encircling it with a line of camps, we might see some 

 of the wild Mexican life under many conditions and 

 at varying altitudes. 



At sunset, from an ancient well-curb in the centre 

 of the i^laza, we watched the smoke curling slowly 

 upward from the fire mountain, silhouetted against the 

 splendour of the western sky. Our hostesses passed 

 us silently, on their way to the picturesque cathedral ; 

 they must pray to-night for the soul of a beloved aunt 

 whom they believed to be still in Purgatory ; and soon 

 the bell ceased to toll, and the low tones of an organ 

 were heard, softened and mellowed by the same hand 

 of time which had weathered the gray, lichened walls. 

 During the last hour of light, half-clothed young 

 boys rushed back and forth, vainly trying to fly a 

 home-made kite, with no wind to lift it. We asked 

 one of them what he thought of the smoking moun- 

 tain, and his face sobered for a moment as he crossed 

 himself. " Dios mio ! " came the universal exclamation, 

 " the priests tell us (and they know), the little diablos 

 *<^ 127 ^ - 



