BALL OF ETIQUETTE. 



Ill 



mounted and attacked him on foot. The bull was 

 brought to bay dh'ectly under our box, and twice I 

 saw the iron pass between his horns, enter the back 

 of his neck with a dull, grating sound, and come 

 out bloody, leaving a ghastly wound. At the third 

 blow the bull staggered, struggled to sustain him- 

 self on his feet, but fell back on his haunches, and, 

 with a feeble bellow, rolled over on his side; blood 

 streamed from his mouth, his tongue hung out on the 

 ground covered with dust, and in a few moments he 

 was dead. The amateurs tied his hind legs, ropes 

 were fastened to the saddles of two horsemen, oth- 

 ers took hold, and as the carcase was dragged across 

 the ring, a fair and gentle-voiced neighbour said, in 

 a tone of surprise, " Dos caballos y seis Christia- 

 nos !" " Two horses and six Christians !" 



I omit the rest. From the bull-fight we again 

 went to the ball, which, in the evening, was the 

 bayle del etiquette, no gentleman being admitted 

 without pantaloons. Society in Yucatan stands 

 upon an aristocratic footing. It is divided into two 

 great classes : those who wear pantaloons, and those 

 who do not ; the latter, and by far the most numer- 

 ous body, going in calconcillos, or drawers. The 

 high-handed regulation of the ball of etiquette was 

 aimed at them, and excluded many of our friends 

 of the morning ; but it did not seem to give any of- 

 fence, the excluded quietly taking their places at the 

 outside of the railing. El matador de cochinos, or 

 the pig butcher, was admitted in drawers, but as as- 



