The shops in these small towns are general stores, like "the shop" in coal- and iron-districts in England.

It is only in large towns that the different retail-trades are separated.

One thing is very noticeable in these country stores, the certainty of finding a great stock of sardines in bright tin boxes.

The idea of finding _Sardines a l'huile_ in Indian villages seemed odd enough; but the fact is, that the difficulty of getting fish up from the coast is so great that these sardines are not much dearer than anything else, and they go a long way.

Montezuma's method of supplying his table with fresh fish from the gulf, by having relays of Indian porters to run up with it, is too expensive for general use, and there is no efficient substitute.