I ZAM AL. 



433 



of the plaza our driver stopped for instructions. We 

 directed him to the casa real, and as we were mov- 

 ing on, our EngUsh saddles, strapped on behind, 

 caught the eye of Albino, who conducted us to the 

 house in which Mr. Gather wood was already domi- 

 ciled. This house was a short distance from the 

 plaza, built of stone, and about sixty feet front, di- 

 vided into two large salas, with rooms adjoining, a 

 broad corridor behind, and a large yard for horses, 

 for all which the rent was three reales per day, be- 

 ing, as we were advised, but two more than anybody 

 else would have been obliged to pay. In a few mo- 

 ments we had done all that our scanty wardrobe 

 would allow, and were again in the street. 



It was the last day of the fiesta of Santa Cruz. 

 By the grace of a beneficent government, the vil- 

 lage of Izamal had been erected into a city, and the 

 jubilee on account of this accession of political dig- 

 nity was added to the festival of the holy cross. 

 The bull-fights were over, but the bull-ring, fanci- 

 fully ornamented, still remained in the centre of the 

 plaza, and two bulls stood under one of the corri- 

 dors, pierced with wounds and streaming with blood, 

 as memorials of the fight. Amid a crowd of Indians 

 were parties of vecinos, or white people, gay and 

 well dressed in the style and costume of the capital, 

 and under the corridor of a corner house, with an 

 arbour projecting into the plaza, music was sound- 

 ing to summon the people to a ball. From desola- 

 tion and solitude we had come into the midst of 



Vol. II.— I II 37 



