246 
TOWNS, PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY, ETC. 
Timber of all kinds is particularly abundant about this vicinity ; 
and there are many valuable sites for mills on the Chicapa. 
A singular custom exists among the Zoque Indians of 
" waking the dead." When one of their number dies, the 
whole populace assemble round the body with musical instru- 
ments, and an ample supply of aguardiente. This gathering is 
generally succeeded by a dance and a night's debauch, accom- 
panied by yells and shouts of the most diabolical character. At 
other times, the people are industrious, and comport themselves 
well, producing calabashes, fruits, wax, tallow, chocolate, and 
Irijoles. 
Between San Miguel and Santa Maria Chimalapa the road is 
perhaps the most rugged on the Isthmus, and for the greater 
part of the distance (nine leagues) lies through a dense and 
almost impenetrable forest, traversed by innumerable small 
streams, which, during the rainy months, are so swollen as to 
be impassable. In the dry season these are nicely bridged by 
hewn logs placed side by side. At the distance of two leagues 
north from San Miguel is the Raneho of La Cofradia, a small 
cluster of huts on a green knoll in a secluded vale. Two leagues 
beyond this is the beautiful Oerro Jacal de Ocotal, so called 
from the ocote (or pine) forest which covers its summit. From 
this point the view of the country is magnificent, and the hues 
of the foliage in the valleys beneath surpass in richness the 
most brilliant tints of our northern Indian summer. Descend- 
ing from this eminence into a dark and shadowy ravine, studded 
with every conceivable form and variety of tree, a ride for a 
league and a half further brings you to the base of a gentle cerro 
of bright-red clay, upon the summit of which is a ruined rancho, 
called El Chocolate. Leaving this the road becomes better until 
reaching the Kio Milagro within a mile of Santa Maria Chima- 
lapa. All along this valley the maize and tobacco plantations 
are very numerous and productive. Fording the stream, the 
ascent to the puebla, by means of a foot-path deeply worn in 
the limestone rock, of which the whole mountain is composed, 
is- steep, winding, and slippery. 
The town is built with some regularity on an elevated ridge, 
within a mile of the Bio del Corte, and contains 2 churches, 104 
