At this point the road makes a great curve, almost like a horseshoe; at the middle of this curve there rises to the right of the road a wall of limestone rock the plainly defined strata of which are thrown into a gentle anticlinal fold.

The upper layers of this arch were covered with shrubs, clinging to its face, while the lower layers were tapestried with a curtain of delicate ferns, which hung down over the open arch below, under which the road passed.

Water trickled through this limestone mass and dripped and collected in little basins, which had been excavated in the ledge close by the roadside.

Some grateful passer had set up little crosses by the water pools, and they were gay that day with purple orchids plucked from a near-by tree.

In this tree, amid the brilliant clumps of yet unplucked blossoms of the orchids, were a number of toucans with their enormous, brightly colored bills--the _picos de canoa_ (canoe beaks) of the people.
Tuxtla Gutierrez is a town of some thousands population, with a central plaza where the local band plays almost every evening, and a market place of exceptional interest.