82 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



His reception-room was in the sala or parlour of his 

 house, in the centre of which, after the fashion of 

 Merida, three or four large chairs covered with mo- 

 rocco were placed facing each other. 



Don Santiago Mendez was about fifty years of 

 age, tall and thin, with a fine intellectual face, and 

 of very gentlemanly appearance and deportment. 

 Free from internal wars, and saved by her geograph- 

 ical position from the sanguinary conflicts common 

 in the other Mexican states, Yucatan has had no 

 school for soldiers ; there are no military chieftains 

 and no prepossessions for military glory. Don San- 

 tiago Mendez was a merchant, until within a few 

 years, at the head of a respectable commercial house 

 in Campeachy. He was so respected for upright- 

 ness and integrity, that in the unsettled state of af- 

 fairs he was agreed upon by the two opposite par- 

 ties as the best person in the state to place at the 

 head of the government. His popularity, however, 

 was now somewhat on the wane, and his position 

 was neither easy nor enviable. From a quiet life 

 and occupations, he found himself all at once in the 

 front rank of a wide-spread rebellion. An inva- 

 sion from Mexico was constantly apprehended, and 

 should it prove successful, while others would es- 

 cape by reason of their insignificance, his head 

 would be sure to fall. The two great parties, one 

 in favour of keeping open the door of reconciliation 

 with Mexico, and the other for immediate and ab- 

 solute separation, were both urging him to carry out 



