CITY OF TEKAX. 



247 



bloodshed. The same day it reached Tekax, and 

 the next morning, instead of falUng upon each oth- 

 er hke so many wild beasts, the officers and the 

 three patriot leaders were seen walking arm in arm 

 together in the plaza. The former promised good 

 offices to their new friends, two reales apiece tb the 

 Indians, and the revolution was crushed. All dis- 

 persed, ready to take up arms again upon the same 

 terms whenever their country's good should so re- 

 quire. 



Such were the accounts we had received, always 

 coupled with sweeping denunciations of the popu- 

 lation of Tekax as revolutionary and radical, and 

 the rabble of Yucatan. Having somewhat of a 

 leaning to revolutions in the abstract, I was happy 

 to find that, with such a bad reputation, its appear- 

 ance was finer, and more promising than that of any 

 town I had seen, and I could not but think it would 

 be well for Yucatan if many of her dead-and-alive 

 villages had more such rabble. 



The city stands at the foot of the sierra. Riding 

 up the street, we had in full view the church of La 

 Hermita, with a broad flight of stone steps scaling 

 the side of the mountain. The streets were wide, 

 the houses large and in fine order, and one had 

 three stories, with balconies overhanging the street; 

 and there was an appearance of life and business, 

 which, coming as we did from Indian ranches, and 

 so long away from anything that looked hke a city 



