CHIHUAHUA WESTWARD. 
155 
mount. From there we passed through 
another large gate into a similar court, 
filled with a variegated assortment of 
mules, and after dodging among them, to 
cross to the opposite side, we climbed 
three or four steps, and entered the most . 
primitive hotel any civilized man’s eyes 
ever rested on. 
The patio or interior plaza of the 
hotel was, upon our arrival, being used as 
a cockpit, and one or two hundred people 
were jammed therein. Beside the Mexi¬ 
cans, there was one immense, brawny 
Chinaman. In the middle of the pit lay 
two dead cocks; one belonged to the 
Chinaman, and the other to some member 
of the Mexican aristocracy of the town. 
An adverse decision had just been given 
regarding the victory of the Chinaman’s 
cock, and he was in the act of rolling up 
