We supped in an Indian hut, and then in the moonlight sat out on the
village green, talking astronomy, of all things. Despite linguistic
disabilities, we prevailed upon the Yucatecan villagers to believe that
the glorious moonlight was borrowed. But the children did not care about
solar or lunar problems, and they romped round us with the dogs,
tumbling over one another in the ecstasy of their play, content that
they were young and happy, and that chubby brown legs were made to run
with. It was quite Arcadian--this little village, with the homely lights
streaming out from the white-faced huts, the merry laughter of the
youngsters, the caressing warmth of the night air, and the blackness of
the rustling trees flashing into a myriad ever-shifting points of light
as the fireflies flew from bough to bough. We slept well in the town
hall, the village clock of large American make, brightest jewel in the
municipal crown, ticking in homely fashion behind us. But with the dawn
we were disillusioned as to the hospitality of Arcady, for we found we
had to "foot" quite a large bill for our entertainment. This is really
one of the most difficult problems in Yucatan. You never know whether
you are a paying guest or not. The head of a village orders your meals,
accompanies you to them, and sees that you lack for nothing. You
naturally regard him as your host; but if he is a Yucatecan this is the
last thing he intends. The difficulty lies in the fact that the true
Spaniard is hospitable, and would never forgive the insult of money
offered for a meal, and you never quite feel safe in assuming that the
half-bred don expects you to pay. He may just have Spanish blood enough
to resent the offer of money.
Our ride back to San Miguel was uneventful. Before leaving Don Luis we
cross-examined him as to the ruin he had seen forty years back, and
arranged that he should come on in a day or two to help in the search.
He described it as being approached by some fifteen steps, about a foot
wide each; as having two doors, ceiling of stone, floor of cement or
stone; no seats or ornaments within, no figures, carvings or
hieroglyphics, but the inner walls painted in blue scrollwork. From the
eastern doorway he remembered seeing the sea plainly over many miles of
woodland. As we were dismounting outside our headquarters at San Miguel
a terrific to-do occurred in the village street. There were cries of "El
toro! el toro!" and the women rushed out from the huts to gather the
children together and take them into shelter. We thought at least a wild
bull had come down from the woods and was disembowelling the Jefe. A
minute more and, to our surprise, there came round the corner an
undersized black steer, one man in front hauling on a rope round its
horns, and another behind with a long pole. It was just such a youthful
bullock as an English country lout would have spanked out of his way in
the farmyard. Gallant Yucatecans!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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