1892 
■ v «♦ . 
Itsatlan 
(Jalisco) 
June 
La patm 
Magdalena 
Cave 
Shelters 
The diligencia landed us by a stable in a by-street and I was told 
' \ *4. 1C\ 
• . . l ■ '1 £ fr , 0 Vk 
that there was a meson at the plaza,- getting this IVora a bystander, 
as the driver of the stage said he did not know whether there was a 
meson or not, and his manner indicated that he considered that his 
having landed us in town was all he could be expected to do, I 
sallied out and soon found the Meson de San Jose fronting the plaza 
and kept by a young man who was a remarkable exception to the inn¬ 
keepers I have found in the country so far. He began at once to 
arrange my quarters and during the entire time of my stay exerted 
himself in every way to assist me in my work, 
I remained at this place until the 24th inst,, working about the 
vicinity, 
- V ' t 
This is the centre of a small mining district and two sets of 
works are running silver ores through by* the patio process. At one 
place a large enclosure has a set of 10 car a dozen arrastras at work 
with mules. Machinery of a clumsy style is used for motive power 
with the others. 
Just to the north of the town is the long shallow Laguna Mag¬ 
dalena, some 5 to 8 miles broad and 20 or more long, and but a few 
fathoms deep. It contains a couple of islands near its eastern 
shore and one of these was the refuge of the Indians when beaten 
by the early Spaniards, On this island they fought the invaders for 
a long time but were conquered and a church built in the midst of 
the village which was built on the top of the knoll-like summit of 
the islet. During the Mexican revolution this islet again served 
as a refuge for descendants of the Indians and some of the Spaniards, 
I was shown a number of eaves dug back into the faoe of a cliff 
of soft loose rook near the water * s edge where the people slept dur¬ 
ing the time of the revolution. 
69 
