58 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



rancho. As most of the people we met were Indians 

 or Ladinos, I was attracted by her appearance, and 

 rode up to the rancho. The proprietor, in the easy 

 costume of our host of Encuentros, was swinging in a 

 hammock under the portico, and smoking a cigar. At 

 a little distance was a shed thatched with stalks and 

 leaves of Indian corn, and called the cucinera, or kitch- 

 en. As usual, while the don was lolling in his ham- 

 mock, the women were at work. 



I rode on to the cucinera, and dismounted. The 

 party consisted of the mother and a pretty daughter- 

 in-law of about nineteen, and two daughters of about 

 fifteen and seventeen. The reader is perhaps curious 

 about costumes ; but having given him an insight into 

 those of this country, he will not require any far- 

 ther descriptions. In honour of my visit, the mother 

 snatched up the little girl who had attracted me to the 

 rancho, carried her inside, and slipped over her head 

 a garment which, I believe, is generally Worn by little 

 girls ; but in a few minutes my young friend disen- 

 cumbered herself of her finery, and was toddling about 

 with it under her arm. 



The whole family was engaged in making tortillas. 

 This is the bread of Central and of all Spanish Ameri- 

 ca, and the only species to be found except in the prin- 

 cipal towns. At one end of the cucinera was an eleva- 

 tion, on which stood a comal or griddle, resting on 

 three stones, with a fire blazing under it. The daugh- 

 ter-in-law had before her an earthen vessel containing 

 Indian corn soaked in lime-water to remove the husk ; 

 and, placing a handful on an oblong stone curving in- 

 ward, mashed it with a stone roller into a thick paste. 

 The girls took it as it was mashed, and patting it with 

 their hands into flat cakes, laid them on the griddle to 



