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us on their way to Oax. They had been surveying a route down the valley from the present end of the line at Oax. About noon we entered & passed through the town of Ocotlan where [[strikethrough]] a fo [[/strikethrough]] market day was in full blast. The market place was packed with zapoteca indians from the ranches & villages of the valley & sellers of fruit, corn, sugar cane, beans, vegetables of various kinds, hats, cloth, fancy articles, serapes &c &c - were doing a lively business. The wind had arisen during the morning & was blowing a half gale now shaking the serapes & rags of the people & adding to the strangeness of the scene. We managed to work our way through the teeming crowd & left the town behind. With us were numerous people who were going back home again from the market many of the men being nearly or quite drunk. Crossing the level plain about Ocotlan we came to the "Sierra de Chavez" This is a spur like ridge of hills necking out into the Val. from the E. side a few miles north of Ocotlan & notorious as the haunt of bandits. Last year numerous robberies are reported to have taken place here, often with bloodshed- Near a ravine crossed by a bridge on the S. base of the hill a picket of soldiers [[strikethrough]] ar [[/strikethrough]] were stationed in order to prevent further robberies, but they do not prevent the bandits doing their work in other places near by-