church
still stands, the principal object in the plaza, and the churches of
San Servacio, San Juan De Dios, Santa Lucia, Santa Ana, La Virgen de la
Candelaria, and the Church of Sisal, the largest buildings in the city,
are all more or less dilapidated.

The same melancholy tokens are visible in the private houses. In the
principal street stand large buildings, roofless, without windows or
doors, and with grass and bushes growing from crevices in the walls;
while here and there, as if in mockery of human pride, a tottering
front has blazoned upon it the coat of arms of some proud Castilian,
distinguished among the daring soldiers of the conquest, whose race is
now entirely unknown.

Among these time-shattered buildings stood one in striking contrast,
remarkable for its neat, compact, and business-like appearance; and in
that country it seemed a phenomenon. It was a cotton factory belonging
to Don Pedro Baranda, the first established in the Mexican Republic,
and for that reason, as emblematic of the dawn of a great manufacturing
system, called the "Aurora de la Industria Yucateca;" and, what gave it
a greater interest in our eyes, it was under the direction of that
young countryman and fellow-citizen, Don Juan Burque, or Mr. John
Burke, to whom I before referred as the first stranger who visited
the ruins of Chichen. It seemed strange to meet in this unknown,
half-Spanish and half-Indian town a citizen of New-York. It was seven
years the day of our arrival since he came to Valladolid. He had almost
lost the facility of expressing himself in his native tongue, but in
dress, manner, appearance, and feelings he was unchanged, and different
from all around him; and it was gratifying to us to know that
throughout that neighbourhood it was no small recommendation to be the
countryman of "the engineer."

Don Pedro Baranda, the proprietor of the factory, began life in the
Spanish navy; at fifteen he was a midshipman on board the flag-ship of
the Spanish admiral at the memorable battle of Trafalgar, and, though
not unwounded, was one of the few who escaped the terrible slaughter of
that day. At the commencement of the war of Mexican independence he was
still in the Spanish navy, but, a Mexican by birth, joined the cause of
his countrymen, and became admiral of the fleet, which he commanded at
the taking of the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, the closing act of the
successful revolution. After this, he resigned and went to Campeac