The village sweltered; the air scorched and blistered; there was no sign of life, save a few naked children playing in the shade or rolling upon the hot sand.

It was so hot and dusty that we hated to resume our journey and tarried so long that we had to ride after nightfall before we reached the _rancho_ of Los Cocos, where we lay in the corridor and all night long heard the grinding of sugar-cane at the mill close by.
We had just such another hard, hot, and dusty ride the next day, on through Auyuga and Tlacotepec, where we stopped for noon, until Tehuantepec, where we arrived at evening..