At Zanatepec, _La Azteca_ was an advertising part of a traveling circus.

The troupe consisted of three men and three women, the latter of whom seemed to be mulattos.

The men were ridiculously garbed and painted to represent wild indians.

The real, live indians, who followed these clowns in delighted crowds, enjoyed thrills of terror at their whoops, fierce glances, and wild antics, and assured us that these actors were, if not the real thing, at least wonderfully accurate impersonations of the natives of the _Estados unidos_ (United States)--the land of the "Apaches." From Tanatepec we were in Chiapas, the southernmost state of the republic.

We struck out over a fine mountain road, _passable for carts_ all the way to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the state.