CHAPTER VIII.
COCOYOTLA.CACAHUAMILPAN.CHALMA.OCULAN.TENANCINGO.

TOLUCA.
[Illustration: IXTCALCO CHURCH.] A little before dark we came to the hacienda of Santa Rosita de Cocoyotla, another sugar-plantation which was to be our head-quarters for some days to come.

We presented our letter of introduction from the owner of the estate, and the two administradors received us with open arms.

We were conducted into the strangers' sleeping-room, a long barrack-like apartment with stone walls and a stone floor that seemed refreshingly dark and cool; we could look out through its barred windows into the garden, where a rapid little stream of water running along the channel just outside made a pleasant gurgling sound.
Appearances were delusive, however, and it was only the change from the outside that made us feel the inside cool and pleasant.

For days our clothes clung to us as if we had been drowned, and the pocket-handkerchiefs with which we mopped our faces had to be hung on chair-backs to dry.