It was not possible to obtain it right away, but a few days later
I sent a messenger to a gentleman in Granados, whose wife had been
relieved from illness by some remedy of mine, requesting him to use his
influence with the priest, and in due course I had the satisfaction
of possessing this valuable relic of history. The vase is made of
a soft, unctuous stone resembling steatite (soapstone); it is true
agalmatolite, a mineral popularly called pagoda stone. Through the
mouth of the human head carved out in front passes a copper tube,
which once no doubt pierced the thick wall of the vessel and penetrated
into its interior. This tube had been stopped up to make the piece
available for its new purpose.

Marching for several days through oaks and mesquites, over hills and
rising country, we reached Nacori, a poor village in the foot-hills of
the Sierra Madre. It is scarcely forty miles from Granados, and lies
at an elevation of 3,700 feet. Our camp, about two miles outside of
the village, was permeated with a delicious odour of acacia blossoms,
and water in the neighbouring mountains, though strongly impregnated
with iron, was quite palatable.

In this region Mr. Hartman found a new form of agave with delicate
stripes of white on the lanceolate leaves that constitute the basal
rosette of the plant. The flower stalk is only twelve or thirteen
inches high, and I should not wonder if this diminutive and beautiful
century plant some day became fashionable in greenhouses. It grows in
large numbers in the crevices of the rocks, the perpendicular walls
of cañons often being studded with the bright little rosettes when
the drought has withered all herbaceous vegetation.

From here I made an excursion to an ancient pueblo site. As usual,