462 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



sertion of the great republican principle that the 

 states are sovereign, and their rights sacred. 



While the clouds were becoming darker and more 

 portentous, we were preparing for our departure from 

 the country. A vessel was then at Sisal ready to 

 sail. It was one which we had hoped never to 

 be on board of again, being the old Alexandre, in 

 which we made our former unlucky voyage, but we 

 had now no alternative, being advised that if we lost 

 that opportunity, it was entirely uncertain when an- 

 other would present itself At the request of the 

 governor, we delayed our departure a few days, that 

 he might communicate with a relative in Campeachy, 

 who wished a surgical operation performed by Doc- 

 tor Cabot, and had passed two months in Merida 

 awaiting our return. In the mean time the govern- 

 or procured the detention of the vessel. 



On Sunday, the sixteenth of May, early in the 

 morning, we sent off our luggage for the port, and in 

 the afternoon we joined for the last time in a paseo. 

 All day we had received intimations that an out- 

 break was apprehended; a volcano was burning 

 and heaving with inward fires, but there was the 

 same cheerfulness, gayety, and prettiness as before, 

 producing on our minds the same pleasing impres- 

 sion, making us hope that these scenes might be 

 long continued, and, above all, that they might not 

 be transformed into scenes of blood. Alas I before 

 these pages were concluded, that country which we 

 had looked upon as a picture of peace, and in which 



