THE LOTERIA. 



291 



in February ; the ground was already marked out 

 in front of the convent for the Plaza de Toros, and 

 the loteria was adopted as the means of raising 

 money to pay the expenses. I had not yet attend- 

 ed, and on the last night of my stay in Ticul I de- 

 termined to go. It was held in the corridor of the 

 audiencia, along which hung branches of palm 

 leaves to protect the lights. It was Sunday even- 

 ing, and, consequently, the attendance was more 

 numerous than usual. At the entrance sat the boy, 

 whose voice is even now ringing in my ears, rat- 

 tling a bag of balls, drawing them out, and calhng 

 off the numbers. Along the corridor was a rough 

 table with a row of candles in the centre, and 

 benches on each side were occupied by the villagers, 

 without distinction of persons, with papers and 

 grains of corn before them, the same as at Merida. 

 The largest sum called off was twenty-nine reals. 

 One real was deducted from every dollar for the 

 particular object of the lottery, and the fund which 

 the boy had obtained by such a potent use of his 

 voice then amounted to sixty-three dollars. There 

 were several performers giving out somewhat equiv- 

 ocal music, without which nothing in that country 

 could go on long, and occasionally two reals were 

 drawn from the purse for them. All entered who 

 pleased. There was no regulation of dress or eti- 

 quette, but much quiet courtesy of manner, and it was 

 regarded a mere converzatione, or place for passing 

 the evening. I remained about an hour. As 



