1894 
Yalalag 
judge who was her son-in-law. Here she was living in a roan with her 
son and his wife and the only furniture consisted of a eouple of palm 
mats laid in two corners on which a couple of oheap blankets marked 
the sleeping places* The kitchen outfit ms barely sufficient for the 
scanty supply necessary for my assistant and myself. The old woman 
was a cheerful person and amused me by her scorn of the people of the 
present place owing to their ignorance. After getting settled I hasten- 
ed out into the plaza close by and wandered about watching the piotures- 
que figures of the Indians who have not had sufficient intercourse with 
outsiders to change their primitive habits and costumes to any extent. 
The natives of the town are Zapotocos. The women wear white skirts of 
unbleached cotton reaching to the ankles. Over this is worn a wide 
flowing tunic of same material falling in straight folds from neck to 
knees with broad loose sleeves. These woman all have the hair dressed 
in two braids falling behind the ears and interwoven with the hair are 
numerous long black woolen strings which extend the braids down nearly 
to the knees. These huge braids of string are twisted about the ends 
with yarn to keep the ends in place and then the braids are twisted 
turban-like about the head each braid being passed in and out over the 
opposite one. The ends are then tucked in behind and the effect is that 
of a large black turban. The Yalalag men wear the usual costume of a 
pair of white cotton trousers, shirt, sandals and straw or felt hat. 
The Mije women could be at once distinguished by their hair having its 
woolen strings made up of alternate black and red strings also by their 
skirt and tunic cut on same pattern as that of the Yalalag women, being 
of coarse homespun cotton cloth of a black ground color with some narrow 
dingy white stripes crossing the cloth. About their necks some of these 
women wore huge masses of small bead necklaces often aggregating several 
pounds in weight. Blue, red, and black were the favorite colors of the 
252 
