294 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



from being so much better provided with the com- 

 forts of living than at any former time while explo- 

 ring ruins, he had continued in good health and 

 spirits. 



At dark the Indian arrived with my luggage, 

 sweating at every pore, having carried it twenty-one 

 miles, for which I paid him three shillings and six- 

 pence. As he was going away we gave him a roll 

 of bread, and he asked by signs if he was to carry 

 it to the cura. Being made to comprehend that he 

 was to eat it himself, he sat down and commenced 

 immediately, having probably never eaten so much 

 bread before in his life. We then gave him half 

 a cup of Habanero, some plantains and a cigar, and, 

 as the dew was heavy, told him to sit by the fire. 

 When he had finished these we repeated the por- 

 tion, and he seemed hardly to believe his good for- 

 tune real, but he had an idea that he was well off, 

 and either from being a stranger, and free from the 

 apprehensions felt by the Indians of Uxmal, or else 

 from a fancy he had taken to us, he asked for a cos- 

 tal, a piece of hemp bagging, to sleep upon. We 

 gave him one, and he lay down by the fire ; for a 

 while he endeavoured to protect his naked body 

 against the moschetoes, and kept up a continued 

 slapping, lighter or heavier according to the aggra- 

 vation, changed his position, and tried the back cor- 

 ridor, but it was all in vain ; and, finally, with a sad 

 attempt at a smile, he asked for another drink of 

 Habanero and a cigar, and went away. 



