GO 
they are generally found intelligent, industrious, docile, and 
lively. 
In point of personal appearance the Tehuantepecans are 
vigorous, and of a pleasing aspect, and among them there are 
many with light hair, and a complexion comparatively fair. 
Speaking of the women of this part of the Isthmus, they are 
also noted for their graceful carriage, and the regularity of 
their features : their gala costume is picturesque, rich, and ele- 
gant, as well as the head-dress which they generally wear. 
In Tehuantepec, in particular, there are bakers, carpenters, 
smiths, tinkers, silversmiths, tanners, shoemakers, saddlers; 
and every family, whatever may be their circumstances, 
manufacture the soap necessary for home consumption. The 
clothes woven by the women from the wild silk and cotton, are 
really admirable, particularly considering the very imperfect 
instruments which they possess for the purpose. 
The Mijes constituted formerly a powerful nation, and 
they still occupy the land from the Sierra, north of Tehuan- 
tepec, to the district of Chiapas. In the Isthmus they only 
inhabit the village of Guichicovi, and a small portion of the 
Sierra, which is never visited. 
Physically and morally speaking the Mijes are a degraded 
race, of a repulsive aspect, and most grossly ignorant. They 
are, however, given to agriculture, and they grow plantains, 
maize, beans, and sugar-cane, from the latter of which they 
extract an impure kind of sugar, and they may be said to 
supply with these articles the southern division of the Isthmus. 
A favourite object of the ambition of the Mijes of Guichi- 
covi is that of possessing the greatest possible number of mules, 
a circumstance not easily accounted for, considering that they 
make no use whatever of these animals, not even for the car- 
riage of their goods, which they prefer bearing on their own 
shoulders. 
The Soques, who came originally from Chiapas, inhabit in 
the Isthmus only the villages of San Miguel and Santa Maria 
Chimalapa. They are easily distinguished from the other in- 
habitants of these regions by their peculiar features. 
In point of morality the Soques appear somewhat more 
