To observe now the contents of the _olla_. First it should be noted that earthenware vessels fulfil nearly all the purposes of the _peones'_ culinary requirements. In these seemingly fragile articles the women bake, stew, boil, and fry in a fashion which would astonish the English or American housewife, accustomed to the use of iron utensils. The diet of the _peon_ is largely vegetarian, and indeed he is a living example of the working force contained in cereals and leguminous plants. Meat is a scarce and expensive luxury which he is rarely able to obtain. [Illustration: MEXICAN PEON LIFE: TYPICAL VILLAGE MARKET-PLACE.] Most important of all in this primitive menu is the _tortilla_; and, indeed, this simple article of food is worthy of being blazoned upon the country's escutcheon! for it may be said to be the basis of all labour here. The _tortilla_ is simply an unsweetened pancake of _maiz_ flour, patted out thin in the hands and baked, and its preparation is the principal occupation of the women of the _peones_ during the time their men are toiling in the fields. Let us watch a Mexican woman of the working class making her _tortillas_, probably sitting on the threshold of her habitation for purposes of light and neighbourly gossip. She has brought forth a grinding-stone or flat mortar known as a _metate_, for the purpose of grinding the _maiz_--an article shaped out of a block of a special kind of volcanic stone, called _recinta_, an implement inherited from Aztec times. The _maiz_ has been boiled with a little lime, and is somewhat softened, and she places handfuls of the grain upon the _metate_, adding water, and shortly reduces it to a stiff paste under the grinding of the upper stone. The _tortilla_ is then patted out into the form of a thin pancake and baked in an earthenware dish, or _casuela_. If it is to be our fortune to partake of this preparation--and if we have been travelling in a remote part of the country it may be so--it is advisable not to inquire too closely into the cleanliness of the operation, for the Mexican _peon_ and his woman do not consider morning ablutions at all a necessary part of their toilette! The supply of _tortillas_ being finished, they are sufficient for the day's requirements, and take the place of bread, and, indeed, of plates, knives and forks, for the _peones_ scoop up their food or put it upon these handy pancakes for depositing it in their mouths, and munch them with their _frijoles_ with the utmost gusto. To re-heat the _tortillas_ they are placed for a few moments upon the glowing embers of the fire, and with a roll of _tortillas_ in his pocket the _peon_ will undertake a day's work, or toilsome march, and ask little else. The _tortilla_, and, indeed, the consumption of _maiz_ in this form, seems to be peculiar to Mexico. In Peru, Chile, or other Spanish-American countries it is unknown.