20 A NATURALIST IN MEXICO, 



the sun not having risen high enough to be uncomfortable; 

 the air had a balmy smell, and the woods teemed with ani- 

 mal life; everything seemed here to delight the heart of the 

 naturalist. The country about the colonel's camp was flat, 

 dry, and covered with a growth of low bushes; but few 

 large trees were seen. The woods abounded with wood- 

 peckers, jays, crotophagas, and hawks. One fact which I 

 noticed particularly was the scarcity of insect life. Hardly 

 an insect was to to be seen, save an occasional butterfly or 

 spider. About the roots of trees I found heaps of land 

 shells, but all were dead. 



During one of our excursions we ran across a flock of 

 Ocellated Turkeys, but did not succeed in obtaining a 

 specimen. This species is quite rare, and specimens are 

 much needed in our museums, 



On the afternoon of the 28th we engaged a volan and 

 driver, and started on a journey toward Valladolid. This 

 volan, or volan coc/ie, as the Yucatecans called it, was a heavy, 

 clumsy affair, but admirably adapted for the rough roads 

 of the country. It was supported upon two large wooden 

 wheels, about as heavy as those used upon our trucks, 

 placed at either end of an eight-foot axle. Upon this axle 

 was a frame-work like our ice-cart covers, supported by a 

 heavy wooden frame. There were no springs, and the 

 jolting was something awful. It was drawn by three dimin- 

 utive burros. 



The driver, whom we christened, for want of a better 

 name, "Isaac McGinty," was a little, dried-up native of 

 uncertain age. He had the usual coppery color and small 

 stature of the Maya people, and was of a most taciturn 

 disposition. His dress consisted of white jacket and 

 pants, sandals, kept in place by a string drawn between the 

 great toe and the next, and a scrape, or blanket, of many 

 colors, drawn tightly about his person. These scrapes 



