46 THE INDIAN HUT. 



The night was gloomy ; and the mountains in ad- 

 vance half shrouded by curtains of dark clouds. I have 

 a disagreeable recollection of the whole scene. I re- 

 member, however, that both amusement, interest, and 

 surprise, were excited in us by three distinct circumstan- 

 ces : amusement at the extravagant joy and pride of 

 heart evinced by Juliano, when a rabbit was killed with 

 his mighty carbine, by Espindola ; interest at the visit of 

 two fine boys, lineal descendants of Montezuma, from a 

 a neighbouring rancho ; and surprise at the fact beirjg 

 mentioned to us, that the father of an old gallant who 

 was the leader of the debauchees before named, was at 

 that hour in sound health at the next hacienda, at the 

 age of one hundred and twenty years. This rancho lay 

 twenty-four leagues from Pueblo Viejo. 



March the first, we proceeded through the same bro- 

 ken line of country. Some difficulty was experienced 

 from our being several times entangled in jungles of 

 bamboo, and in muddy swamps, or thick natural groves 

 of lemon and orange trees ; till two o'clock in the after- 

 noon, when the country became more open, and finding 

 a poor Indian hut, beautifully situated, we halted to 

 breakfast, and to repose ourselves and our animals. The 

 cabin was constructed of light bamboo frames, thatched 

 with palmetto leaves not only on the roof but the sides, 

 and divided into two or three compartments, with coarse 

 screens of grass matting. 



The inhabitants were all of the softer sex ; consisting 

 of three young maidens, under the surveillance of two 

 most forbidding crones. We here, if I recollect right, 

 made our first experience of the difficulty to which the 

 traveller is exposed in Mexico, in persuading the Indian 

 to furnish him, even if paid in advance, with the slightest 

 food or provender either for man or beast. Nothing 

 was to be had. No hai ! was the answer to every 

 query. They had neither maize, nor chocolate, nor 

 fodder, nor eggs, nor fowls ; nor bananas, nor frijoles, nor 

 tortillas, nor dried meat, nor even Chile. What did they 

 live upon — for they were all, old and young, as plump as 

 partridges. No hai! was the only word you could ex- 



