INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL 



IN 



YUCATAN. 



CHAPTER I. 



Embarcation. — Fellow-passengers. — A Gale at Sea. — ^Arrival at 

 Sisal. — Ornithological Specimens. — Merida. — Fete of San Cris- 

 toval. — The Lottery. — A Scene of Confusion. — Principle of the 

 Game. — Passion for Gambling. — A deformed Indian. 



The reader of my " Incidents of Travel in Cen- 

 tral America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," may remem- 

 ber that the researches of Mr. Catherwood and my- 

 self in the last-mentioned country were abruptly 

 terminated by the illness of the former. During our 

 short sojourn in Yucatan, we received vague, but, at 

 the same time, reliable intelligence of the existence 

 of numerous and extensive cities, desolate and in 

 ruins, which induced us to believe that the country 

 presented a greater field for antiquarian research 

 and discoveries than any we had yet visited. Un- 

 der these circumstances, it was a severe hardship 

 that we were compelled to leave it, and our only 

 consolation in doing so was the hope of being able 

 to return, prepared to make a thorough exploration 

 of this unknown and mysterious region. In about 

 a year we found ourselves in a condition to do so ; 

 and on Monday, the ninth of October, we put to 



