The air was too chilly and damp to permit of our expecting much rest, and the night was chiefly occupied in attending to the fire, and in listening to Lopez’s account of his superstitions and religious beliefs, and those generally held by his tribe. There was something in Lopez’s character which showed that he was possessed of a kind of devotional enthusiasm, which made his stories of Indian faiths, past and present, singularly interesting, because it was evident that he spoke with earnestness and as a man convinced. Thus the night passed away, and in the morning as soon the earliest signs of dawn appeared in the sky, and long before the sun had risen over the hills, we continued our journey northwards through Chiapas. In the forenoon we reached the hamlet of San Carlos. I observed that Lopez went to the rising ground near at hand, and stood for several moments facing the sun, with the palms of his hands joined together and raised to the level of his face. He seemed to be muttering a request. When he returned I asked him what he had been doing. He said that the Indians of his tribe always thanked the sun in the morning for coming and giving light, and thus enabling men to work. In the evening they again thanked the sun for what had been done, and asked it to return again. They also offered prayers to the moon for the same reason, because it gave light and helped men to live. The stars they did not worship. In answer to questions that I put to him, he said that the Indians always prayed or made offerings with reference to the world in which they lived, and for objects relating to themselves and their wants, and never took into consideration anything regarding a future life. He thought it was impossible to know if a man was to live again, or whether he was to be given some other shape or kind of existence. I told Lopez about the “adoratorio” in the Sierra Madre above Jacaltenango. He declared that the Indians near Comitan also had a stone image in a cave amongst the hills. He went there once a year to light a candle, “la sua candela,” before it, but it was usual amongst the men of his tribe to go there more frequently. The image was about two feet six inches in height, and had its arms folded. It was one of the ancient idols worshipped before the conquest. From San Carlos there was a ride of six leagues over a less difficult road, and as we approached Ocosingo we passed through some fine scenery. The path followed the line of the summit of the hills, and commanded extensive views of both valleys. At Ocosingo, I called upon Don Remigio Salorzano, to whom I carried a note of introduction. Don Remigio told me that the ancient Indian ruins were over a league from the pueblo, but that there was very little to be seen there.