HACIENDA OF TAB I, 47 



seemed to reign supreme over the woods. Hardly a sound 

 could be heard, save the clatter of the volan, the voice of 

 the driver as he urged the mules, or the occasional cry of 

 some wild animal. 



On the following morning we again set forth, this time 

 to visit the Hacienda of Tabi, owned by SenorFajada, and 

 also to visit a large cave and the ruins of Labna. Our road 

 was very rough and rocky, and bordered by dense woods. 

 At eleven o'clock we came to the clearing in which was sit- 

 uated the Hacienda of Tabi. It was a noble building of 

 good proportions, built of stone, and of two stories. The 

 cattle-yard was large, shaded by fine ramon trees (a species 

 of tropical oak), with here and there a towering cocoa-palm, 

 and filled by a large herd of cattle. I have already given 

 the reader some idea of a hacienda in Yucatan, with its 

 cattle-yards, its great tanks of water, and other accessories. 

 All these were upon a large scale, equal to any we had seen. 

 Besides the hacienda building, native huts, etc., there was 

 a rum distillery and sugar refinery, from both of which Seiior 

 Fajada derived an immense revenue For the sjfety of the 

 hacienda against the marauding natives of the interior, there 

 was a company of soldiers stationed here. About the cocoa- 

 palms in the cattle-yard large iiocks of grackles were flying; 

 these birds seemed always to congregate about haciendas, 

 but were never found in the forests. In one portion of the 

 cattle-yard I discovered a small land snail which 

 proved to be a new species (^Oryzosoma Tabiensis, 

 Filsbry). At dinner I tasted a dish of which I 

 had heard much, but until this time had not 

 tasted — cuttle-fish. It was a small species of 

 Octopus found abundantly on the coast, and oeyzosoma 



1 11,,- 11-1 1-1 TABIENSIS, 



was very palatable, tasting much like chicken. pilsbey 

 Early in the afternoon we started for the Cave of Lol- 

 tun, situated a league from the hacienda. The road for the 



