railway-station at merida.—public conveyances.—the calesa.—a ride through the streets.—when merida was founded.—practical mode of designating streets.—public buildings.—casa municipal.—dress and manners of the people.—indians, spaniards, and mestizos.—a city of pretty women.—characteristics of the maya race.—the mestizo quarter.—scenes in the market.—breakfasting at a medio restaurant.—euchre or yucca.—uses of the yucca plant.—gambling in yucatan.—la loteria; how it is played.—american counterpart of the yucateo game.—a popular assemblage.
in the outskirts.
the train rolled into merida and halted under the walls of an old convent that has been converted into a public hospital. as the passengers emerged from the station frank and fred were impressed with the listlessness of the cab-drivers, who did not seem to care whether they obtained customers or not. they stood or sat idly near their vehicles, and one was sound asleep on his box, where he evidently did not wish to be disturbed for so trivial a matter as earning a living.
the calesa.—entrance of a merida house.
the carriages in waiting were of various kinds. that which first caught the eyes of the youths was a calesa, a sort of chaise carrying two persons, the driver being seated on the horse; the shafts were of unusual length, and the weight was so placed that fully one-third of it rested on the animal, in addition to that of the driver. the wood-work was bright with paint and gilding, and over the frame was drawn a cover of white linen to ward off rain and dust together with the heat of the sun, which is by no means light in yucatan. fred suggested that it was a wise provision
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of nature to seat the driver on the horse, as he could not conveniently go to sleep there.
a somewhat rickety carriage to hold four persons was secured, and in this conveyance the travellers proceeded to the only hotel of which merida can boast. until recently the place had no hotel whatever, and strangers were obliged to hunt lodgings for themselves or apply to their consular representative or a foreign merchant. even as it is, a letter of introduction to a resident is a very useful document. few travellers go to merida, and the universal testimony of those who have been there is that the residents are hospitable. the same may be said generally of the inhabitants of the towns, villages, and haciendas throughout yucatan.
the streets of merida are broader than those of many other mexican cities, but their pavement does not attract attention by its excellence. the houses are of stone, and mostly but a single story in height. the entrance is generally through an arched door-way into a court-yard, and the windows that face the street are invariably grated and nearly all without glass. the construction of the houses suggests moorish and spanish architecture, together with some features peculiar to the dwellings of the natives.
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merida stands on the site of a native city, where a great and decisive battle was fought in 1540. according to the spanish historians, there were 200 spaniards against 40,000 indians. doubtless the figures are not exact, but it is quite likely that the defeated army was vastly superior in numbers to the invaders. the spaniards had, of course, the advantage of fire-arms, as they had in the conquest of mexico, and we have seen in previous pages what a great advantage it was. the indians had only spears, swords, and bows and arrows, and their bodily defences were tunics of wadded cotton. these tunics were efficient against their own kind of weapons, but of little use to repel a musket-ball. the cannon of the spaniards created terrible havoc among them, and one chronicler says that when the indians were heavily massed the cannon-balls tore through them and mowed down hundreds at every discharge.
where is now the plaza mayor was a mound of stone and earth at the time of the conquest. on the top of the mound was an altar, on which sacrifices were made; but the natives were not as much addicted to them as were the people of mexico. this very circumstance had much to do with the success of cortez in his conquest. the aztecs sought to take their enemies alive in order to sacrifice them on their altars; and it is said that cortez himself was in their hands on two occasions. they might easily have killed him, but while they were leading him away uninjured, in order that he should be kept for sacrifice, he was rescued by his followers.
the mound referred to was torn down for the sake of the building material it contained; and the same was the case with many other mounds and pyramids in its neighborhood. very much of the material of which merida is constructed was obtained from these edifices.
the streets cross each other at right angles, and frank observed something which he thought quite original in the naming of the streets. here is his memorandum on the subject:
"for the convenience of the indians who could not read or write spanish, or anything else, in fact, the streets were named after birds and beasts. in addition to the spanish name in letters there was the figure of the creature after which the street was called. the street of the ox had the figure of an ox in stone or plaster, or painted on the wall; the street of the flamingo presented a tall flamingo with a beak of fiery red, and the street of the elephant had a well-moulded figure of that animal with enormous trunk and tusks. the idea is a capital one, and i'm surprised it has been so little utilized."
"it is utilized more than you think," said doctor bronson, when frank called his attention to the subject. "you remember that in russia
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and other countries where large numbers of the population cannot read, the shop-keepers ornament their signs with pictures of the things they have to sell; and the custom is by no means unknown in our own land. a watch-maker hangs out a wooden watch, a boot-maker displays a boot or shoe, and a druggist shows a mortar and pestle. you remember how convenient it was in the far east, for the servants who did not know a single roman letter, that the canned fruits, meats, and vegetables from america and england bore on their labels a picture of the article contained in the can?"
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"certainly, i do remember," replied the youth. "after all, there's nothing new under the sun, though the application of the idea here is something we have not before seen."
house built by montejo.
there are twelve or fifteen squares, or plazas, in the city, the most important being, of course, the central one known as the plaza mayor. the cathedral and the casa municipal, or city hall, face upon this square, and on one side of it is the oldest house in the city, dating from 1549. the city was founded in 1542 by don francisco de montejo, the son of the governor of the province of yucatan, and bearing exactly the same name. montejo, junior, was lieutenant-governor and captain-general, and the old house just mentioned, which is one of the sights of merida, was built by him. the façade is ornamented with sculptures, which are said to have been made by indians after designs supplied by the spaniards. they represent the conquerors trampling on the bodies of natives, who have been made non-resistant by the removal of their heads. it was probably the idea of montejo that the sight of these sculptures would deter the indians from any further resistance to the white men who came from beyond the sea, and brought the christian religion to replace the paganism which they found here.
musical instruments.
the hotel in which our friends were lodged is also on the great square, directly opposite the old house of montejo, which was the first building to which the youths gave special attention. most of the buildings fronting the square are of more than one story; in fact, the best architecture of the place may be said to be in that neighborhood. the casa municipal is an imposing building of two stories, with broad porticos supported on arches. it has a high tower, from which watchmen are supposed to be constantly on the lookout for fires; though, owing to the material used in the construction of merida, and the absence of stoves and furnaces, fires are of exceedingly rare occurrence.
municipal palace and square, merida.
"the first thing to attract our attention as we strolled through the streets," wrote fred, "was the dress of the people. the men—i am speaking of the native indians—wear cotton trousers, or drawers, which are tight at the waist, and descend to the knee or below it. sometimes they have shirts on their backs and sometimes none; but in the latter case a man is reasonably certain to have one folded away in his hat, to be worn
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on state occasions or when the rules of society demand. some of them wear a long shirt and no trousers, and altogether the wardrobe of a native of the lower class is not costly. frequently we see men with one leg of the trousers rolled up and the other hanging down, and it is a comical sight when a half a dozen thus arrayed are grouped together. a very noticeable feature about the shirt is that it is worn with the 'flaps' outside, like a carter's frock or 'jumper,' and not inside, as in northern countries.
"the dress of the women is a skirt hanging from the waist to the ground, and a white uipil, or outer garment, that hangs from the shoulders to the ground, like a loose wrapper. it is the traditional dress of 300 years ago, and the fashion has not changed at all in that time. on sundays and feast days both sexes are arrayed in spotless white, but on other days their garments are apt to be more or less dingy. compared to the mexicans, the yucateos, as the people of yucatan are called, are wonderfully
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cleanly in their dress and ways, and it is as rare to see a dirty yucateco as it is to see a clean aztec. the uipil of the women has short sleeves, and is not as high in the neck as the close-fitted dress of new england, but is a modest and neat-looking dress, and the whiteness of the material makes a fine contrast with the dark skin of the wearer.
dancing scene.
"many of the women are pretty, and we do not wonder that the spanish conquerors were loud in their praises of the comeliness of the feminine part of the inhabitants of yucatan. their eyes are black as coals, and their sight is as sharp as that of the traditional indian everywhere; altogether the people have a close resemblance to the malay race, and we have but to close our eyes a moment to imagine ourselves once more in batavia or singapore.
"the people are of the maya race, and here, in the name, we have a near approach to 'malay.' by some they are supposed to be an ancient people who lived here before the advent of the toltecs, which happened about the twelfth century; others believe them to be a combination of two races, the toltecs from the west and another race from the islands of the caribbean sea. landa, stephens, squier, and other writers say the mayas were the most civilized people of america; they had an alphabet and a literature, cultivated the soil, had rude machinery for manufacturing textile and other fabrics, possessed sailing-vessels, and had a circulating medium which corresponded to the money of the old world.
"the great temples of palenque and other cities of this part of the world were built by this people, or by tribes and races closely allied to them; we have shown by our accounts of palenque and lorillard city that these temples were of no mean architecture, and we shall have more to say when we come to the ruined cities of yucatan.
"according to the spanish historians, the people were ruled despotically by a king, and were divided into nobles, priests, common people,
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and slaves. the king, nobles, and priests held the greater part of the lands; the land of the common people was held on the communistic principle, and each man had enough to cultivate for the support of his family. the commoners were obliged to supply the noble with fish, game, salt, and other things he wanted; to cultivate his land, and follow him to war whenever he chose to go on a campaign. in fact the condition of the peasants in yucatan was much like that of the subjects of a rajah of india before the english took possession of the country, or of a daimio of japan. they had nothing they could call their own, not even their lives, and their condition was not at all improved by the conquest of the country by the spaniards, except that they were not liable to be taken for sacrificial purposes, according to the ancient custom.
native village in the interior.
"slavery has been abolished, and imprisonment for debt is no longer allowed by law; but every man between the ages of twenty-one and fifty can be drafted for military service. when so employed he receives six cents a day and supplies his own food!
"merida has a population of about 50,000, by far the greater number of them being of indian blood either pure or mixed. there is a large proportion of mestizos, or half-castes, and they are the handsomest part of the population. we have seen some mestizo women who could compete successfully in a beauty show including mrs. langtry and all the
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other 'professionals' of the day. the mestizos inhabit a part of the town by themselves, where their thatched huts stand in quarter-acre lots planted with grass and trees. these huts are said to be very much like those occupied by the indians before the conquest.
"you know we always go to the market-place in every strange city that we visit, and may be sure we did not omit that of merida. it is not unlike the market-places of mexican cities in general, but has some features peculiarly its own.
"half the population of the city seemed to have gathered there—indians, mestizos, spaniards, foreigners, and dogs; and there was a hum of voices which never ceased for an instant. the manners of the natives are more pleasing than those of the people in the markets of mexico. they chat good-naturedly and with many a smile, as though they enjoyed coming to the market without regard to whether they sell anything or not. a great deal of bargaining is necessary in making purchases, for the indian has no notion of the value of time; and for the matter of that, the tropical resident, whatever his nationality, is rarely in a hurry. we passed many picturesque groups, fruit-sellers with their wares in broad baskets, their heads wrapped in rebozos either white or colored, and their eyes shining like little globes of polished anthracite set in their brown skins.
fruit-sellers in the market-place.
"these fruit-sellers were so numerous near the entrance of the market that it was no easy matter to get past them into the open space beyond. a medio would buy all the oranges, bananas, or mangoes that one would care for. frank and i invested two medios (twelve cents) in oranges, and distributed them to a lot of boys that were strolling through the place. they took the fruit with an air of gratitude combined with dignity, and during the rest of our stay several of them followed us about in the hope that our princely generosity would be renewed.
sitting for her portrait.
"the square where the market was held was filled with little shelters to keep off the heat of the sun. these shelters were made by sticking up poles so as to hold a piece of matting or common cloth in a horizontal position. under each of these impromptu tents a vender was seated, generally a woman or a girl, and the articles for sale were spread on the ground. eggs, fruit, lettuce, peas, beans, and kindred products of the garden were thus displayed; and the wonder seemed to be that nobody trod upon the wares, which were certainly endangered by careless feet. mules and donkeys with large panniers on each side brought loads of things to be disposed of, but the greater part of the burdens were borne on the backs of men. occasionally a man on horseback appeared in the market, and once in a while a policeman showed himself, though his presence did
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not appear to be needed at all. we did not hear or see anything that approached a quarrel, and were told that fights were of very rare occurrence.
"some of these shelters are restaurants on a small scale, and one day we went to the market to take a medio breakfast, being assured that it was one of the sensations of the country. we sought one of the most attractive restaurants we could find, and squatted on the ground close to the one individual who was proprietor, chef, head-waiter, waiter, and everybody else. our breakfast was a stew of frijoles, chile con carne, and tortillas. it was served to us in jicaras, or half-shells of some kind of tree-fruit whose
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name we did not learn. no spoons or forks were supplied. we used the tortillas for spoons, and afterwards devoured them in true mexican style. as sam weller said of veal-pie, a medio breakfast in a yucateo restaurant is 'werry fillin'' at the price. the yucateos are as devoted to the tortilla as are the inhabitants of the rest of mexico, and the native cooks are expert in its manufacture.
in the market-place.
"while in the market we met our acquaintance of the railway-train. his first question was as to whether we had seen how the natives practise gambling, and his second, 'have you tried euchre?'
"we thought it a singular question, and frank replied that neither of us played that or any other game of cards.
"he laughed and said, 'i don't mean euchre; i mean yucca.'
"we looked rather puzzled i'm sure, and then with another laugh he pointed to a pile of something that looked very much like 'ruta-baga' turnips, such as cattle are fed with in some parts of the united states.
"'that,' said he, 'is yucca, and it belongs to the same family as the maguey and henequin.' as soon as he said this we remembered to have seen the plant in mexico. we had just been talking about the fondness of the people for gambling, and hence our misunderstanding.
"we bought a medio's worth of the article and tasted it. the flavor was something like that of a sweet turnip, and not at all disagreeable. i can readily understand that one might become fond of it, and our friend said that it was quite nutritious. the root is eaten by the natives, the fibres furnish a textile fabric like henequin, and soap is made from the stalk and leaves. recently an enterprising american has manufactured a preparation for the hair from the yucca plant, and it is said to possess remarkable powers for restoring hair to heads that for years have been as smooth as an ostrich-egg.
"while on the subject of gambling we will mention the popular amusement of la loteria, or 'the lottery.'
"our guide took us into a large hall, which is open to the public, or
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rather to anybody who can force his way through the dense crowd at the door. all classes seemed to have assembled there; rich and poor were seated at the same tables, and their object seemed to be amusement rather than gain. the stakes were very small, ordinarily a medio, and in a few instances dos reales. the room was hot as an oven, brilliantly lighted, every foot of standing and sitting room was occupied, and white people of all grades in life, gentlemen as well as ladies, negroes, indians, and mestizos crowded together at the tables, which were in two rows the whole length of the hall.
"the amusement is licensed by the government, which sells sheets of paper for a real each on which the
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game is played. it is done by a combination of numbers all the way from one to ninety. these numbers are arranged on the paper or cards in different combinations, no two cards being alike.
"each player buys a card and places it in front of him on the table. then a hat or a basket is passed around, and each one puts in his medio or whatever else the stake may be. when the money has all been collected and the amount of the stake announced, the game begins. in addition to his card each player has a pile of grains of corn in front of him, and a stick with which to rap on the table when the time to do so arrives.
"the object is to get a row of five numbers on the cards from the numbers which are drawn, and the one who first gets a row wins the purse. on a platform, in full view of everybody, is a man with a bag containing wooden or ivory balls, on which the numbers from one to ninety are painted. when the game is to begin, this man draws a ball from the bag and announces the number upon it, and the player who finds that number on his card places a grain of corn over the figures. one after another, numbers are called out in a voice that rises above all the confusion of sounds with which the place is filled, and each time a number is called it is marked with the corn.
"everybody is intently watching his card, and there is a crowd of spectators looking over the shoulders of the players. men, women, children—white, black, yellow, and all other colors possible to humanity—are there; and so are all the dresses of yucatan, from the uniform of the high official and the satin or silk of the grand dame of society down to the cotton garb of the indian, and quite likely his bare shoulders with no garb at all. three-fourths of those present are smoking, and the atmosphere is like a morning fog, only a great deal worse.
"by-and-by somebody raps sharply on the table with his stick to indicate that he has made a row of five numbers, and stands up in his place. then the man on the platform calls the drawn numbers again, and if the announcement of the row is correct the winner takes the purse. as the stake is small, he does not win a great deal; but evidently he is the envy of his less fortunate neighbors.
"mistakes occur sometimes, and then there is a tumult, in which knives may be drawn and things become very lively for the bystanders. we did not stay long in the place, you may be sure, but we came away convinced that la loteria is less ruinous to the pockets of the players than many other games of chance.
"an american gentleman with whom we talked on the subject said that this game is not unlike one known in some other parts of the world
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under the name of 'keno.' he told us that there were many other forms of gambling in yucatan, most of them being forbidden by the government, and consequently played less openly than the lottery. he told us that there was heavy gambling in the clubs; in some of them the play is only for gold, silver being considered too insignificant and bulky for the amusement of gentlemen.
"we thought it was very much to the credit of the people of merida that the utmost good-nature seemed to prevail in the dense crowd at the hall we visited. we did not hear a rude word, or witness a rude act of any kind; and the only exceptions, we are told, is when there is a quarrel growing out of the drawing of the numbers from the bag."
