no prepossessions for military glory. Don Santiago
Mendez was a merchant, until within a few years, at the head of a
respectable commercial house in Campeachy. He was so respected for
uprightness and integrity, that in the unsettled state of affairs he
was agreed upon by the two opposite parties as the best person in the
state to place at the head of the government. His popularity, however,
was now somewhat on the wane, and his position was neither easy nor
enviable. From a quiet life and occupations, he found himself all at
once in the front rank of a wide-spread rebellion. An invasion from
Mexico was constantly apprehended, and should it prove successful,
while others would escape by reason of their insignificance, his head
would be sure to fall. The two great parties, one in favour of keeping
open the door of reconciliation with Mexico, and the other for
immediate and absolute separation, were both urging him to carry out
their views. The governor shrank from the hazard of extremes, was
vacillating, undecided, and unequal to the emergency. In the mean time,
the enthusiasm which led to the revolution, and which might have
achieved independence, was wearing away. Dissatisfaction and discontent
prevailed. Both parties blamed the governor, and he did not know
himself to which he belonged.

There was nothing equivocal, however, in his reception of us. He knew
the object of our return to the country, and offered us all the
facilities the government could bestow. Whatever was to be the fate of
Yucatan, it was fortunate for us that it was then free from the
dominion of Mexico, and repudiated entirely the jealous policy which
threw impediments in the way of strangers seeking to explore the
antiquities of the country; and it was also fortunate, that on my
former visit Yucatan had impressed me favourably; for, had it been
otherwise, my situation might have been made uncomfortable, and the two
journals of Merida, the "Commercial Bulletin" and the "Nineteenth
Century," instead of giving us a cordial welcome, and bespeaking favour
for us, might have advised us to return home by the same vessel that
brought us out.

Our only business in Merida was to make inquiries about ruins and
arrangements for our journey into the interior, but in the mean time we
had no lack of other occupation.

The house of the Dona Micaela was the rendezvous of all strangers in
Merida, and a few days after our arrival there was an unprecedented
gatherin