[Illustration: TREE FERN IN TROPICAL FOREST; QUEZALTEPEC]

[Illustration: CASCADE, NEAR QUEZALTEPEC]

Ixcuintepec is upon one of the most abrupt ridges of this whole
district. We went first to the schoolhouse, where our animals were to
be guarded in a little open space before it; then we walked over to
the _curato_ which was being prepared for us. We had ordered _zacate_
(fodder) for our animals and had divided it suitably between them. We
ate our own meal, took a turn around the town, and were about to go to
our quarters for the night, when Ernst noticed that the fodder, for
which we had paid an outrageous price, had completely disappeared from
before the two horses, although the pile before the mule had diminished
but little. No doubt the two school teachers could have explained this
mysterious disappearance; we could not, however, tax them with theft,
but we made so much fuss over the matter that the officials brought a
new supply. While I went to our room to write up my notes, Ernst sat in
the gathering darkness watching the animals, as they ate, to prevent
further robbery. I was busily writing, listening now and then to the
fierce gusts of a gale that was blowing without, when the door burst
open and Ernst, greatly excited, called me to follow, and we hastened
to the place where our animals were tied. There we found that the great
tree under which Chontal, the little mule, had been feeding, had been
torn by the tempest and half of it had fallen upon the animal, bearing
it to the ground. The crash had come without a moment's warning.
Fortunately, the mule was unhurt, though it could not move until the
branches which had crushed it to the earth had been cut away with axes.
When we had released the beast and were retiring to our quarters, we
saw a sight never to be forgotten. Looking down from our crest into the