magining themselves the admiration, were the contempt of the crowd.

The Plaza de Toros was on one side of the square of the plaza, and,
like that in the square of the church of San Cristoval, was constructed
of poles and vines, upright, intwining and interlaced, tottering and
yielding under pressure, and yet holding together firmly. In the centre
was a pole, on the top of which flourished the Mexican eagle, with
outspread wings, holding in his beak a scroll with the appropriate
motto, "Viva la Republica de Yucatan," and strings extended like radii
to different parts of the boxes, wrapped with cut and scolloped papers
fluttering in the wind. On one side of the ring was a pole with a
wooden beam, from which hung, by strings fastened to the crown of an
old straw hat, two figures stuffed with straw, with grotesque masks and
ludicrous dresses. One was very narrow in the shoulders and very broad
below, and his trousers were buttoned behind.

The toros, fallen into disrepute in the capital, is still the favourite
and national amusement in the pueblos. The animal tied to the post when
we entered was from the hacienda of the senote, which was famed for the
ferocity of its bulls. The picadores, too, were fiercer than those in
the capital, and the contests were more sanguinary and fatal. Several
times the bulls were struck down, and two, reeking with blood, were
dragged off by the horns, dead; and this was in the presence of women,
and greeted with their smiles and approbation: a disgusting and
degrading spectacle, but as yet having too strong a hold upon popular
feeling to be easily set aside. The entertainment was got up at the
expense of the village, and all who could find a place had liberty to
enter.

This over, there was an interval for business, and particularly for
visiting the horse-market, or rather a particular section to which
dealers sent their horses to be exhibited. I was more interested in
this than any other branch of commerce carried on at the fair, as I
wished to purchase horses for our journey. There were plenty of them,
though, as in all other sections of the country, but few fine ones.
Prices varied from ten dollars to two hundred, the value depending, not
upon bone, blood, or muscle, but upon training and paces. The young
hacienda horses, with nothing but the trot, or trotones, as they were
called, were worth from ten dollars to twenty-five, but as they
excelled in pace or easiness of movement their value