outside, is made into cups and drinking-vessels by the natives, who
also cultivate other species of jicara, with round fruit, as large
as a man's head, from which the larger drinking-bowls are made. In
the smaller jicaras chocolate is always made and served in Central
America, and, being rounded at the bottom, little stands are made
to set them in; these are sometimes shaped like egg-cups, sometimes
like toy washhand-stands. In making their earthenware vessels, the
Indians up to this day follow this natural form, and their
water-jars and bowls are made rounded at the bottom, requiring
stands to keep them upright.

The meals of Montezuma were served on thick cushions or pillows.
This was probably on account of the rounded bases of the bowls and
dishes used. The gourd forms of bowls possibly originated from the
clay being moulded over gourds which were burnt out in the baking
process. It is said that in the Southern States the kilns in which
the ancient pottery was baked have been found, and in some the
half-baked ware remained, retaining the rinds of the gourds over
which they had been moulded. Afterwards, when the potter learned to
make bowls without the aid of gourds, he still retained the shape
of his ancient pattern.

The name, too, like the form, has had a wonderful vitality. It is
the "xicalli" of the ancient Aztecs, changed to "jicara" by the
Spaniards, by which they mean a chocolate-cup; and even in Italy a
modification of the same word may be heard, a tea-cup being called
a chicchera.

On top of one of the hills we just got a glimpse of a small pack of
wolves, or coyotes, as they are called, from the Aztec coyotl. They