402 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



than attending to the performance, in conversation with 

 ladies who would have graced any circle. One of 

 them told me that there was to be a tertulia and a bag- 

 lio at a country-house near the town in a few days, 

 and to forego this was a harder trial than the loss of the 

 bishop's dinner. Altogether, the evening at the theatre 

 consummated the satisfaction of the only day we passed 

 in Merida, so that it remains impressed on my mind in 

 bright relief to months of dulness. 



The next morning at half past six we set out for Ux- 

 mal on horseback, escorted by a servant of Seiior Peon, 

 with Indians before us, one of whom carried a load not 

 provided by us, in which a box of claret was conspicu- 

 ous. Leaving the city, we entered upon a level stony 

 road, which seemed one bed of limestone, cut through 

 a forest of scrub trees. At the distance of a league we 

 saw through a vista in the trees a large hacienda belonging 

 to the Peon family, the entrance to which was by a large 

 gate into a cattle-yard. The house was built of stone, and 

 had a front of about one hundred and fifty feet, with an 

 arcade running the whole length. It was raised about 

 twenty feet, and at the foot was a large water-trough 

 extending the whole length, about ten feet wide and of 

 the same depth, filled with water for cattle. On the 

 left was a flight of stone steps, leading to a stone plat- 

 form on which the hacienda stood. At the end of this 

 structure was an artificial reservoir or tank, also built 

 of stone and cemented, about one hundred and fifty 

 feet square, and perhaps twenty feet deep. At the foot 

 of the wall of the tank was a plantation of henniken, a 

 species of aloe, from the fibres of which hemp is made. 

 The style of the house, the strong and substantial char- 

 acter of the reservoir, and its apparent costliness, gave 

 an imposing character to the hacienda. 



