106 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



for propriety and respectability of behaviour. This 

 was a matador de cochinos, or pig butcher, of excel- 

 lent character, and muy vivo, by which may be un- 

 derstood " a fellow of infinite wit and humour." The 

 people of the village seemed to think that the pow- 

 er given him to whip the Mestizas was the extremity 

 of license, but they did not consider that, even for 

 the day, they put him on equal terms with those 

 who, in his daily walks, were to him as beings of 

 another sphere ; for the time he might pour out his 

 tribute of feeling to beauty and attraction, but it 

 was all to be regarded as a piece of extravagance, 

 to be forgotten by all who heard it, and particularly 

 by her to whom it was addressed. Alas, poor ma- 

 tador de cochinos ! 



According to the rules, the mantle and sash which 

 he had thrown at the feet of the lady belonged to 

 her, and he was obliged to appeal to the charity of 

 the spectators for money to redeem them. In the 

 mean time the dance continued. The fiscales, hav- 

 ing once taken ground as dancers, were continually 

 ordering the vaqueros to step aside, and taking their 

 places. At times, too, under the direction of the 

 fiscales, the idle vaqueros seated themselves on the 

 ground at the head of the arbour, and all joined in 

 the hacienda song of the vaqueria, in alternate lines 

 of Maya and Castilian. The chorus was led by the 

 fiscales, with a noise that drowned every other sound; 

 and while this boisterous merriment was going on, 



