114 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



poncha over my head, and escorted me to a house, 

 w^here I made a great discovery, w^hich everybody in 

 the village knew except myself. The lady, v^^hom I 

 had supposed to be a seiiorita, was a comprometida, 

 or compromised, or, to speak precisely, she was the 

 compagnera of the padre who sat on the other side 

 of me. 



I have omitted to mention that a great change, or, 

 as it is sometimes called in the country, a new ref- 

 ormation, is now going on in Yucatan, not like the 

 reformations got up by disorganizing laymen, which 

 have, at times, convulsed the whole Christian world, 

 but peculiar and lt)cal, and touching only the domes- 

 tic relations of the padres. It may be known to 

 many of my readers that in the early ages of the 

 Catholic Church priests were not forbidden to mar- 

 ry. In process of time the pope, to wean them 

 from wordly ties, enjoined celibacy, and separation 

 where marriage had already taken place. The 

 priests resisted, and the struggle threatened to un- 

 dermine the whole fabric of church government ; 

 but the pope prevailed, and for eight centuries, 

 throughout those countries in which the spiritual 

 domination of Rome is acknowledged, no priest has 

 been allowed to marry. But in Yucatan this bur- 

 den was found too heavy to be borne. Very early, 

 from the necessity growing out of local position, 

 some special indulgences had been granted to the 

 people of this country, among which was a dispen- 

 sation for eating meat on fast days ; and, under the 



