44 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



waltz. It was not the furious whirl of the French 

 waltz, stirring up the blood, making men perspire 

 and young ladies look red, but a slow, gentle, and 

 graceful movement, apparently inducing a languid, 

 dreaming, and delightful state of being. The music, 

 too, instead of bursting with a deafening crash, stole 

 on the ear so gently, that, though every note was 

 heard clearly and distinctly, it made no noise ; and 

 as the feet of the dancers fell to the gentle cadence, 

 it seemed as if the imagination was only touched by 

 the sound. Every face wore an expression of pore 

 and refined enjoyment — an enjoyment derived rath- 

 er from sentiment than from excited animal spirits. 

 There were not the show and glitter of the ball- 

 room in Europe or at home, but there were beauty 

 of personal appearance, taste in dress, and propriety 

 and simplicity of manners. At eleven o'clock the 

 ball broke up ; and if the loteria was objectionable, 

 and the bull-fight brutal, the paseo and baglio re- 

 deemed them, and left on our minds a pleasing in> 

 pression of the fete of San Cristoval. 

 .-■] One fiesta was hardly ended when another began. 

 On Monday was . the great fete of Todos Santos. 

 Grand mass was said in all the churches, and in eve- 

 ry family prayers were offered up for the souls of the 

 dead ; and, besides the usual ceremonies of the Cath- 

 olic Church throughout the world, there is one pe- 

 culiar to Yucatan, derived from the customs of the 

 Indians, and called Mukbipoyo. On this day every 

 Indian, according to his means, purchases and burns 



