Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 73.djvu/399

Rh the railroad restaurant, makes you wish that you could stop for hours instead of only twenty minutes. On the way back, I had the pleasure of stopping at Tomellin and eating at my leisure, while I watched my less fortunate neighbors trying to eat three kinds of meat, with side dishes, pie, cake and ice cream in the regulation time.

Oaxaca, at an altitude of 5,000 feet, has a climate like a perpetual Indian summer. Already a prosperous town in the time of Columbus, it has grown until it has become an important commercial center, and

its numerous cathedrals with their paintings and gorgeous decorations have made it interesting to the artist and architect. The hotels are good and the obliging hosts are always ready to arrange trips to Monte Alban and Mitla.

Monte Alban is said to be about four miles from Oaxaca. It seems farther if you go on foot. The average tourist, even though a bad rider, had better get a horse. When the top is reached, more than a thousand feet above the city, the view of the valley, with Oaxaca spread out like a map, the little villages, rich plantations, and Tule in the distance, is well worth even the climb on foot. The summit of the mountain is covered by the ruin of an ancient city. Whether the individual buildings are temples, stores or palaces, the tourist can doubtless decide with far less hesitation than can the trained archeologist. Some of the stones are large and well cut, some, like Fig. 1, bear pictorial inscriptions, and some have outline images of the entire