hought of taking passage; she had
sailed from New-York four days after we did, and arrived during the
night.

Very soon we saw coming off toward us the separate canoes of the health
and custom-house officers. We were boarded by a very little man with a
very big mustache, who was seasick before he mounted the deck, and in a
few minutes betook himself to a berth. The preliminaries, however, were
soon settled, and we went ashore. All disposition we might have had to
complain the night before ceased on landing. Our former visit was not
forgotten. The account of it had been translated and published, and, as
soon as the object of our return was known, every facility was given
us, and all our trunks, boxes, and multifarious luggage were passed
without examination by the custom-house officers.

The little town of Sisal had not increased either in houses or
inhabitants, and did not present any additional inducements to remain
in it. The same afternoon we sent off our luggage in a carreta for
Merida, and the next morning started in calezas ourselves.

From the suburbs of the town the plain was inundated, and for more than
a mile our horses were above their knees in water. When we passed
before, this ground was dry, parched, and cracking open. It was now the
last of the rainy season, and the great body of water, without any
stream by which to pass off, was drying up under a scorching sun, to
leave the earth infected with malaria.

We had arrived in the fulness of tropical vegetation; the stunted trees
along the road were in their deepest green, and Dr. Cabot opened to us
a new source of interest and beauty. In order to begin business at
once, he rode in the first caleza alone, and before he had gone far, we
saw the barrel of his gun protrude on one side, and a bird fall. He had
seen at Sisal, egretes, pelicans, and ducks which were rare in
collections at home, and an oscillated wild turkey, which alone he
thought worth the voyage to that place; and now, our attention being
particularly directed to the subject, in some places the shrubs and
bushes seemed brilliant with the plumage and vocal with the notes of
birds. On the road he saw four different species which are entirely
unknown in the United States, and six others which are found only in
Louisiana and Florida, of most of which he procured specimens.

We stopped at Huncuma during the heat of the day; at dark reached
Merida, and once more rode up to the house of Dona Micael