14 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



mounted the deck, and in a few minutes betook him- 

 self to a berth. The preliminaries, however, were 

 soon settled, and we went ashore. All disposition 

 we might have had to complain the night before 

 ceased on landing. Our former visit was not for- 

 gotten. The account of it had been translated and 

 published, and, as soon as the object of our return 

 was known, every facility was given us, and all our 

 trunks, boxes, and multifarious luggage were passed 

 without examination by the custom-house officers. 



The little town of Sisal had not increased either 

 in houses or inhabitants, and did not present any 

 additional inducements to remain in it. The same 

 afternoon we sent off our luggage in a carreta for 

 Merida, and the next morning started in calezas 

 ourselves. 



From the suburbs of the town the plain was in- 

 undated, and for more than a mile our horses were 

 above their knees in water. When we passed be- 

 fore, this ground was dry, parched, and cracking 

 open. It was now the last of the rainy season, and 

 the great body of water, without any stream by 

 which to pass off, was drying up under a scorching 

 sun, to leave the earth infected with malaria. 



We had arrived in the fulness of tropical vegeta- 

 tion ; the stunted trees along the road were in their 

 deepest green, and Dr. Cabot opened to us a new 

 source of interest and beauty. In order to begin 

 business at once, he rode in the first caleza alone, 

 and before he had gone far, we saw the barrel of his 



