1892 at Tlalpam and the leaves of Alnus acuminata. Populus cdfrus, «md 
, t ■» ,* * , 
Tlalpam P» nifra fell by the middle of the month except in sheltered spots. 
(Mexico) 
The common people here dress in the usual cotton cloth costume and 
. V . «* 
a serape and, on several occasions when my assistant or I were up an 
hour or more before daybreak, several men were found each time sitting 
in the cold benches of the Plaza, silent and closely wrapped in their 
serapes waiting for the rising sun to warm them up. 
The houses of the peon class are chilly and often damp and the 
owners are out early in the morning to take a warming from the earliest 
rays of the sun* In the City of Mexico, as well as in the smaller 
towns, the houses of this class are, as a rule, more dungeon-like adobe 
boxes with only a heavy plank door for admission of air and light, 
mhen the owner has advanced ideas, he may have a window cut in the wall 
with wooden bars across. These houses have earthen floors and are very 
often damp from the moisture of the soil as well as from the constant 
wetting that the people are in the habit of giving them, 
Yihile at Tlalpam I made a trip up to the village of Ajusco which 
. , . -V 
lies at the HE base of the mountain of the same name. The village is 
A 
a rambling affair of adobe houses roofed with pointed-shape covered 
roofs. The people live by cultivating fields of corn on the loose, 
/ 
sandy, and very poor soil up to an altitude of 10,000 feet and by 
• » 
cutting wood on the adjacent mountsin-side. 
The maguey grows to a large size up to about 10,000 feet at this 
place, but little else is found that does not show the effect of the 
poverty of the soil. The people of the village and vicinity are In¬ 
dians and have not a good reputation. 
They showed their interest in our work by trying to follow my 
0 
assistant on several occasions while he was setting traps. Their 
tracks were seen where they had followed the trail on the mountain 
139 - 
