HOTEL YUCATECO. 9 



were seen under cultivation, henequen being the principal 

 article. This henequen, the substance from which the 

 famous Sisal hemp is made, is a Maguey plant (the Agave 

 Sisakfisis of botanists), and much resembles the plant 

 found on the plains of Apam, in Mexico, from which the 

 celebrated Mexican drink, pulque, is made. The growing 

 of henequen is one of the chief industries of Yucatan, if 

 not the chief one. In the distance several ruined mounds 

 were seen, but nothing which gave us the faintest concep- 

 tion of the grand and wonderful buried cities of the 

 interior. 



After a two hours' ride we reached Merida, a little after 

 dark. We put up at the Hotel Yucateco, the best hotel in 

 the city, kept by Senor Escalente, a very worthy and oblig- 

 ing gentleman. After supper, eaten in a caf^ kept in a 

 grocery store, we examined more closely our quarters. The 

 rooms were all situated on the ground floor, and were 

 about twenty-five feet in height, twenty in length, and 

 fifteen in width, with a cloth partition extending half-way to 

 the ceiling, making two rooms of one. The furniture con- 

 sisted, of a bed, chair, and wash-stand; the bed clothing 

 of but a pair of sheets! 



We were awakened early next morning by the clanging 

 of the bells of the cathedral close by. One of these bells 

 was cracked, and produced a most doleful sound. After 

 making a careful toilet, for it was Sunday, we made a more 

 accurate survey of our surroundings than we were able to 

 do the evening before. Our room looked very prison-like 

 with its barred windows, the early morning light streaming 

 through, and its high, plastered walls. It brought forcibly 

 to mind the pictures I had seen of Columbus in prison. 

 Stepping from our room we entered a spacious court-yard, 

 upon which all the rooms opened. In the center of this 

 CQurt yard was an ancient well, and beside it a modern 



