In the past, when Tehuantepec was more important than now, it was no uncommon thing to see a woman in this market with several hundred dollars in gold coins hanging to her neck chain.

In these later days of little trade and harder times, these once prized decorations have been spent, and it is rare to see any woman wearing more than twenty to fifty dollars as display.
[Illustration: READY FOR CHURCH; TEHUANTEPEC] [Illustration: THE WIDE ROAD; TEHUANTEPEC TO JUCHITAN] Resuming our journey, we struck out upon the highway which parallels the coast.

Almost immediately, the road changed from a fair country cart-road to a road remarkable at once for its straightness, breadth and levelness.

It was, however, dreadfully hot and dusty, and was bordered on both sides with a tiresome and monotonous growth of low, thorn-bearing trees, with occasional clumps of palms.

We ate dinner at Juchitan, in a little eating-house conducted by a _Japanese_! A little beyond that important indian centre, we saw a puma pace forth from the thicket; with indescribably graceful and slow tread it crossed the dusty road and disappeared in the thicket.