that was distinguished from the others by a peculiar decoration in
red, while the space around the door was painted in a delicate shade
of lavender.

There seems to have been still another hall of nearly the same length
as the one described, but which must have been at least one foot and
a half higher. It is now almost entirely caved in.

No objects of interest were found that could throw any light on the
culture of the builders of these dwellings, except the fragment of
a stone axe and a piece of matting.

The day after my arrival at Chuhuichupa I continued my journey, now
accompanied by Mr. Taylor and Mr. Meeds. We had as a guide an old
Mexican soldier, who had been recommended to us as a man who knew the
Sierra Madre better than anyone else. He had, no doubt, lived a wild
life; had taken part in many a "scrap" with the Apaches, as his body
showed marks of bullets in several places, and he had prospected for
gold and silver, traversing a good deal of ground in the mountains at
one time or another. But topographical knowledge _per se_ does not
necessarily make a good guide. Although "Don Teodoro," by something
like instinct, always knew where he was, it did not take us long to
discover that he had not judgment enough to guide a pack-train, and his
fatuous recklessness caused us a good deal of annoyance, and even loss.

After leaving the grass-lands of Chuhuichupa, we passed through
extensive pine regions, full of arroyos and cordons, and it struck
me how silent the forest was here. No animal life could be seen
or heard. About ten miles south we caught sight of the Sierra de
Candelaria, which suddenly loomed up in the southeast, while the