We reached our lodgings in season to hear a Mexican disquisition on cock-fighting, before the commencement of a “grand concert,” that was to take place in the evening, and to which we had been favored with an invitation. The élite of the city were to be present, and no small gratification was anticipated. It took place in a long hall kept for this and other public purposes. The music was instrumental—and the performers consisted principally of amateurs. It was a matter of surprise and disappointment to find that only seventeen ladies and ten gentlemen constituted the audience. It was odd to us, to see the fairer part of the assembly set apart from the gentlemen; an arrangement which, if we are not deceived, gave no more satisfaction to the ladies than to the gentlemen. The former were quite pretty, and their dress exceedingly neat; the arrangements of the head in particular exhibited very good taste.
On the following day I made a visit to a gentleman’s country place, situated about two miles from the city. It was a beautiful morning. Under the smiles of a rising sun and a cloudless sky nature appeared to be embellished in all her charms. After a very agreeable walk I arrived at the house; but was disappointed in finding the owner at home. A few Indians were hanging listlessly about the premises, under the charge of a major domo, whose situation was manifestly quite a sinecure. The mansion was of two stories with piazzas, large, and well built of stone; but had nothing very peculiar in its construction. The grounds about it were neatly and tastefully arranged. The division alleys of the garden were laid with stone, covered with composition, ornamentally disposed, and answering the two-fold purpose of a walk and a gutter to conduct the water to the parts where it was required. The orange, the cocoa, the plantain, and the wide-spread banana, were loaded with fruit. Clusters of smaller tropical shrubbery, and myriads of flowers, were in perfection. The enclosures teemed with vegetation, growing in unrestricted luxuriance. This vegetation is only sustained by the aid of irrigation. The water is supplied from immense wells and cisterns, which are opened in large numbers for that purpose. This practice was originally introduced into Spain by the Moors, who thus changed quite barren wastes into productive gardens. Even the courses of rivers were sometimes diverted to effect this important object. Many of the provinces of the parent country, although since suffered by neglect to revert to their former uselessness, bear evidence of the important benefits that resulted from the system. The conquerors of Mexico were aware of its advantages, of which they availed themselves extensively in their agricultural pursuits. These reservoirs are frequently made through a calcareous formation, to the depth of a hundred feet, and are supplied with water both from fountains and from the rains of summer. Broad curbs of stone and mortar are formed around them, from eight to ten feet high, which are used as platforms for drawing up the water by means of revolving buckets, turned by a spindle, and emptying, in their evolutions, into conductors leading to reservoirs located near the place where it may afterwards be wanted. Ascending to the balcony of the building, I had a partial view of the city, embosomed among trees, with its domes and turrets peering above their tops. After acknowledging the hospitality with which I had been received, I made my adieus, and returned at an early hour to the city.
The Congress of Yucatan is now in session. It is held in two rooms, connected with each other by double doors. These rooms are neatly and plainly fitted up for the purpose, having a small gallery or platform at the sides, for the accommodation of spectators. These apartments comprise a portion of a convent once belonging to the Jesuits, who formerly exercised a powerful sway in this province. In 1825 their property was confiscated to the government; when this and other orders of monasteries and nunneries were dissolved by the prevailing voice of the people. Small remains now only exist of this once potent and dreaded class. The whole building, with the exception of the part mentioned, and the church, is in a ruinous condition, with broken walls and ragged casements. Birds of prey, fluttering about and resting upon the trees that overtop the seat of this once proud, but now fallen society, present a lesson that others of a similar cast might profit by; yet now, in the nineteenth century, there are those living in Mexico, who not only strenuously advocate the maintenance of the order of Loyola, but are exerting their influence to have it reinstated to all its pristine wealth, power, and ancient privileges. To revert to the business before Congress—the houses were discussing the propriety of appointing commissioners to Vera Cruz, for the purpose of arranging for a secession from the great plan of independence that had been proclaimed, and again to return “to their first love,” under the control of the Mexican confederacy. The members were good-looking, well dressed, and of gentlemanly behavior—and the system of duelling and bullying practised so extensively in many of our own legislative assemblies, is unknown to the unsophisticated individuals who constitute this body. They probably have not arrived to that state of civilization, which requires such physical agencies to illustrate and to enforce their arguments.
A temptation to visit the most extensive of the modern ruins of this province could not be resisted. The Monastery of St. Francisco, which is situated nearly in the centre of Merida, was erected upon a mound or foundation that, probably, was the former site of some important structure belonging to the original inhabitants of the place, which fell under the destroying hand of the conqueror. The caciques and their people were driven out, or perished by the ruthless sword; and the church, following fast upon their footsteps, divided the spoils. Where are they now? The vanquished and the vanquisher are numbered with the things that were! and we now stand upon the dilapidated memorial that indistinctly marks the greatness of the one, and the downfall of the other.
This monastery was founded in 1520, without being completed until 1600. It was constructed of walls, after the plan of a fortification, to ward off the attacks of the Indians, who made sudden and frequent attempts to regain their dominions and to annoy their enemies. It occupies about five acres of ground, enclosed by walls forty feet high and eight thick, with walks upon the top. The material is of hard stone, but composed of small pieces, imbedded in a firm mass by the means of mortar. This vast pile, at one time, contained upwards of two thousand friars. Popular opinion drove them out in the political changes of 1825. Only few of the order remain in Yucatan, and they are supported by the church.
The entrance to these ruins is through a huge doorway into a room which was evidently used for persons in waiting for egress, when great caution was requisite in opening the gates, for fear of being surprised by the lurking foe. The arched ceiling of the room is painted with flying ecclesiastical figures, and the apartment is now used as a stable. From thence the entrance leads to a large square, the sides of which were once occupied by churches, corridors, and rooms. Passing through these, over the fallen ruins covered with a rank vegetation, by long halls, we come to a room that might have been a place of devotion, judging from the unusual care exhibited in the architecture of the walls, which now, however, was more or less broken and defaced. Two trap-doors were in the centre, through which is a descent, by stone steps, to an apartment twelve by eighteen feet, and six feet high. This room contained piles of human bones, having been a receptacle for those who died of the cholera. This cell had passages connected with it, but they were so choked up with rubbish that they could not be penetrated. After clambering over broken walls, we reached a second floor, containing halls and rooms that had been used for libraries and lodgings, as I inferred from the words placed over the doors. In proceeding along the halls, or entering the deserted rooms, the hollow sound of the intruder’s footstep drives the frightened bat from his resting-place, and the lizard to his hole. The descent here leads through a succession of rooms and cells, under ground, from whence we left the buildings and passed on through the rank grass surrounding them to a portion of the area, which was formerly cultivated as a garden. The stone walk could yet be seen, and the taste and skill of the designer were perceptible. Fruit-trees still remain, as also wells and reservoirs for bathing and fishing.
On returning to the gateway, and ascending the front or principal wall, the highest summit of one of the pinnacles is attained by a ladder of ropes; from which one may obtain a bird’s-eye view of the city and surrounding country, as also of the immense pile of ruins around him. In front of the interior space are two churches, in a tolerable state of preservation, built in the old Spanish style of pinnacled roof and arches. On the left, ruins of an immense hall are seen, with its large broken arch, leaving the whole interior, with its painted ceilings, exposed to view. Farther on are crumbling bastions and thick walls, falling, covered with ivy and other vegetation. Squares are filled up with masses of rubbish, and overgrown with trees. Symbols of the cross were scattered about, bearing evidence of the class of people that had last been its rulers. On the right, you look down into the deep recesses where, but a moment since, you might have stumbled over the emblems of a once haughty and potent priesthood. All now is silent. No life is stirring, save the ominous buzzard fluttering over the tottering pinnacles, or perched upon the blackened and decaying walls, finishing this picture of desolation.
The 6th of January is the holy-day of the Epiphany. At four o’clock in the morning the streets were completely thronged, principally with females. In the cathedral, at this early hour, it was quite dark. The prevailing gloom was rendered more palpable by the distant appearance of lighted candles. The priests were administering the sacrament, with crowds of women surrounding them. The long aisles of the church were filled with kneeling devotees. As the sun rose, and threw his bright beams in at the windows, the scene became imposing. A vast multitude of females were offering up their orisons at the same moment; and, if the mind of the spectator could be divested of the prejudice that it was not merely the performance of a superstitious rite, but a direct and sincere appeal to the Giver of all good gifts, the sight, indeed, had been most cheering to the eye, most gratifying to the heart.
Early on the morning of the following day (Sunday) I visited the churches. They were filled, as usual, with the fairer part of creation. In walking through the streets, after breakfast, great preparations were observed to be making for a cock-fight, which was to take place at twelve o’clock. This, next to a bull-bait, is one of the most exciting scenes that can present itself to a Mexican populace. The gentlemen keepers were already wending their way to the pits, which are always kept in readiness for such amusements. The patricians of the city, the heads of the government, officers of the army, scions of the church, citizens, and the poor Indian, were all present, mixed up, helter-skelter; and bets, from six and a quarter cents to three hundred dollars, were freely offered and as readily accepted. There was much excitement, but no quarrelling or harsh words. The cock of the Secretary of War was beaten.
The latter part of the day was spent on the Square, where there were about three hundred Yucatan soldiers collected for drill. They were dressed in a shirt and short trousers, with the former article upon the outside, and a broad-brimmed palm-leaf sombrero. Their military equipments were in good keeping. They were officered principally by boys, who had received nothing more than a common school education, wore jacket and trousers, and used canes as substitutes for swords. During the drill a slight shower commenced, which dampened the martial propensities of our heroes with marvellous rapidity. Whatever might have been their preferences to a fight, they certainly preferred to drill another day.