174 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



urbs, we reached the new village of Iturbide, stand- 

 ing on the outposts of civilization, the great point 

 to which the tide of emigration was rolling, the Chi- 

 cago of Yucatan. 



The reader may not consider the country through 

 which we have been travelling as over-burdened 

 with population, but in certain parts, particularly in 

 the district of Nohcacab, the people did so consider 

 it. Crowded and oppressed by the large landed pro- 

 prietors, many of the enterprising yeomanry of this 

 district determined to seek a new home in the wil- 

 derness. Bidding farewell to friends and relatives, 

 after a journey of two days and a half they reached 

 the fertile plains of Zibilnocac, from time immemo- 

 rial an Indian rancho. Here the soil belonged to 

 the government ; every man could take up what land 

 he pleased, full scope was offered to enterprise, and 

 an opportunity for developaient not afforded by the 

 over-peopled region of Nohcacab. Long before 

 reaching it we had heard of this new pueblo and its 

 rapid increase. In five years, from twenty-five in- 

 habitants it had grown into a population of fifteen 

 or sixteen hundred ; and, familiar as we were with 

 new countries and the magical springing up of cities 

 in the wilderness, we looked forward to it as a new 

 object of curiosity and interest. 



The approach was by a long street, at the head 

 of which, and in the entrance to the plaza, we saw 

 a gathering, which in that country seemed a crowd, 



