1892 
Agosto 
to 
Zapotlan 
(Jaliseo) 
i ‘ i 
Apr* 6 
I loft; Agostc for Zapotlan,- passed through sane miles of small 
pines extending down from the Sierra Nevada and off across the Coa- 
huayana or Tupan River and away into Michoacan, Within a couple of 
leagues of Zapotlan, we crossed a very rough bed of broken lava ex¬ 
tending out from a low volcanic cone which rises near the base of the 
main Sierra on the south end of the valley of Zapotlan* This place 
f 
is a town of some 18,000 or 20,000 people situated on the east side 
of a basin or valley some 15 or 18 miles N and S by 12 E and W, It 
is open prairie-like country and devoted mainly to corn fields. She 
i 
town is old as shown by its Indian name and lias been christened 
Ciudad Gusman in honor of ono of Mexico’s generals. Officially it 
is known by the latter name, but in common usage the old name still 
holds its own, 
% 
The town has several churches and chapels and among the latter 
are some 3 or 8 Indian chapels that are rather curious. 
The chapels have a life-size figure of Saint Sebastian with bloody 
wounds on his body. This Saint was killed by s oirfch Sea islanders 
years ago and the Indians here have adopted him as their special 
saint for that reason,- hoping by doing him honor to do away with 
the sin shown by their fathers against the church. 
In small glass eases beside the altar are small figures of the 
Virgin dressed in very highly ornamented costume upon the outside of 
which are hung dozens of little silver images of pigs, horses, oattle, 
feet, legs, hands, arms, etc,, etc,, all being hung there by Indian 
worshippers to assist in securing the special assistance of the 
Virgin in securing answer to prayers. The image usually indicates 
the desire of the petitioner whether for animal , or for the 
curing of bodily ills. 
Each Indian chapel has an Indian in charge who is oMef of the 
41 
