This condition of the Indians is practically the same throughout this part of Central America. The problem of existence is worked out in its lowest terms. It cannot however be said that they live in want and poverty, because they have no wants. They exist, and are apparently content to exist, in the state in which they find themselves placed. The bare ground, a thatched roof, bedstead, a few mats, some firewood, and a small store of maize suffice for the necessities of their lives. Their submissive natures assent to these conditions and they seem to accept their fate with passive resignation. Upon my return to the shed in the evening, I found that it was enlivened by the arrival of a busy, loud-voiced Spaniard named Don Pepe Ortiz. He informed me that he was travelling from Oaxaca towards the coast of the Gulf of Campeachy with a cargo of tobacco. He had with him a band of cargadores to carry the bales. He also employed for his own personal use a man of great strength to carry him in places where he could not ride a mule. The direction of his journey over the sierras was for some distance the same as my own, and he proposed that we should, without delay, make arrangements for crossing a river which occasionally was difficult to pass over. I had not heard that there was a stream of any importance in our way, and I asked Don Pepe to do what was expedient. Accordingly he sent on an Indian to order several canoes to be in readiness for us on the following morning. [Illustration: INDIAN WOMAN GRINDING CHOCOLATE, CENTRAL AMERICA.] At sunrise my new guide José arrived and we all started together. After riding about a league we reached the bank of a river, called the San Pedro, which we found to be a deep stream about three hundred yards wide. The passage was not made without difficulties, chiefly caused by the conduct of the mules, when they reached the opposite bank, which was very steep. The canoes were in attendance, and I selected one which seemed to be convenient for the moderate weights to be carried. The mule was fastened by the halter to the stem of the canoe, and swam across with ease, but she obstinately refused to go on shore at the proper landing place, and consequently, after several unavailing attempts, I allowed her to go free and choose for herself. She swam down with the current for about a hundred yards, and then with much good judgment she selected her own spot and scrambled safely up the bank. After having successfully accomplished my crossing, I watched the movements of Don Pepe and his men in their canoes. It was a picturesque scene, but it was within two hours of midday before we were all established on the northern side of the river. We then commenced the dreaded ascent about which many warnings had been given to me. It was a steep climb for five long leagues and it was nearly sunset when we reached the summit. We stopped for the night in a small shed which sheltered us from the dew.