SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 185 



are unknown to us, are piled up in pyramids 

 and decorated with the most gaudy flowers 

 In the front of the canoes, the Indian women, 

 very slightly clothed, with their long glossy 

 tresses of jet black hair flowing luxuriously to 

 the waist, and often with an infant fastened 

 to their backs, push the canoes forward with 

 - long slender poles. In the centre, under cover, 

 the remainder of the family are seated, mostly 

 employed in spinning cotton, or weaving it, 

 in their simple portable looms, into narrow 

 webs of blue and white cloth, which forms 

 their principal clothing. Other boats are 

 loaded with meat, fowls, turkeys, and a 

 profusion of wild ducks, which they pluck 

 and prepare on their way to the market ; ge- 

 nerally throwing the feathers, which they con- 

 sider of no value, into the water. Others 

 again are freighted with Indian corn, the 

 general food for horses, in bulk or straw, 

 reared like floating pyramids. Milk, butter, 



