The most attractive spot in the city was the market place. Within the square, crowds of people, Indians and Ladinos, were daily assembled, all of them buying, selling and carrying on the ordinary traffic, with a silence and listless indifference which was in strong contrast with the life and animation of the cities in the United States. It was a constant pleasure to observe the movements of the younger Indian women, who in their appearance and demeanour, were far superior to the men. This difference arises from their habits and employment. The women have a certain kind of dignity in their manner, caused, in a great measure, by their usage of carrying water jars and pans of crockery poised upon their heads. They therefore walk slowly and hold themselves upright. This custom which begins from early childhood, and forms part of their daily life, has the result of giving them good figures and a particularly graceful movement. The men, on the contrary, have a crouching appearance, caused by the method in which they have been accustomed, from boyhood, to carry their burdens. They relieve the pressure of the weight on their backs by means of a broad band passed over the forehead and thus, by bending forward, the load is made less oppressive. The men and boys consequently contract a stooping posture, and this presents an unfavourable contrast to the women, whose bearing is precisely the reverse. There is another circumstance which has its influence in shaping the figures of the women. They carry all small things on the open palm of the left hand, which is thrown back and held well raised up. In fact the same causes which affect the appearance of the Indians in North America are present here, but with the difference that there it is the squaw who contracts the stooping and bent figure, through carrying her children and other burdens, and it is the man who maintains the upright figure and dignified manner. On the plains a few miles to the west of the city, in the direction of the village of Mixco, there is a large and extensive group of ancient Indian mounds of whose construction or purpose nothing is known. They have never been scientifically examined and I was not able to ascertain that any plans had been made of them. No author has alluded to them unless by a mere passing notice, and yet they seemed to throw more light upon the question of the Toltecan or Aztecan migrations than any other remains of ancient antiquities. Possibly no previous traveller in this part of Central America had also seen the mounds of Cahokia, near the eastern banks of the Mississippi, or he could hardly have failed to have observed that their resemblance is so great, and indeed so evident as to place it almost beyond doubt, that the builders of the mounds at Cahokia were of the same race as those that dwelt on the plains of Mixco.