262 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



and he had an unbroken sleep. On waking, copi- 

 ous draughts of tamarind water were given ; when 

 the fever came on again the decoction was repeated, 

 with tamarind water in the intervals. The effect 

 of this treatment was particularly happy, and it is 

 desirable for strangers to know it, for the sour or- 

 ange is foundfli every part of the country, and from 

 what we saw of it then and afterward, it is, per- 

 haps, a better remedy for fever in that climate than 

 any known in foreign pharmacy. 



The village of Ticul, to which we were thus ac- 

 cidentally driven, was worthy of the visit, once in 

 his life, of a citizen of New- York. The first time 

 I looked upon it from the balcony of the convent, it 

 struck me as the perfect picture of stillness and re- 

 pose. The plaza was overgrown with grass ; a few 

 mules, with their fore feet hoppled, were pasturing 

 upon it, and at long intervals a single horseman 

 crossed it. The balcony of the convent was on 

 a level with the tops of the houses, and the view 

 was of a great plain, with houses of one story, flat 

 roofs, high garden walls, above which orange, lemon, 

 and plantain trees were growing, and, after the loud 

 ringing of the matin and vesper bell was over, the 

 only noise was the singing of birds. All business 

 or visiting was done early in the morning or toward 

 evening ; and through the rest of the day, during the 

 heat, the inhabitants were within doors, and it might 

 almost have passed for a deserted village. 



Like all the Spanish villages, it was laid out with 



