i 



330 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



however, the arrival of strangers w^as so rare an oc- 

 currence that no apartment was assigned expressly 

 for then* accommodation. That given to us was 

 the principal room of the building, used for the great 

 occasions of the village, and during the week it was 

 occupied as a pubhc schoolroom; but, fortunately 

 for us, being Newyear's Day, the boys had holy- 

 day. 



It was about forty feet long and twenty-five wide. 

 The furniture consisted of a very high table and 

 some very low chairs, and in honour of the day the 

 doors were trimmed with branches of cocoanut tree. 

 The walls were whitewashed, and at one end was 

 an eagle holding in his beak a coiled serpent, tear- 

 ing it also with his claws. Under this were some 

 indescribable figures, and a sword, gun, and can- 

 non, altogether warlike emblems for the peaceful vil- 

 lage which had never heard the sound of hostile 

 trumpet. On one side of the eagle's beak was a 

 scroll with the words " Sala Consistorial Republi- 

 cana, Ano 1828." The other had contained the 

 words " El Systema Central," but on the triumph 

 of the Federal party the brush had been drawn over 

 it, and nothing was substituted in its place, so that 

 it was all ready to be restored in case the Central 

 party returned to power. On the wall hung a pa- 

 per containing a " notice to the public" in Spanish 

 and the Maya language, that his Excellency the 

 Governor of the State had allowed to this village 

 the establishment of a school of first letters for 



