Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-06-09

its roof is perforated with holes, in which
are thousands of nests of birds and hornets.
A flight of stone steps lead down to it from
the charming garden above, and palms and
aguacates growing at the bottom thrust
their verdant crowns just above the level
of terra firma
The water is perfectly clear, apparently
bottomless, and contains many blind fish
(piscddo cenote) like those found in the
Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. The over
hanging roots Of trees fringe its broken
arch, affording shelter to numberless
lizards and iguanas, which dart along the
lodges, while above them countless swallows
are constantly circling in masses so dense
that the whirring of their wings produces
deafening noise, echoed from below in
hollow decorations.
Another novelty, to us, about this
hacienda was its bee-garden. 1t lis reached
by going down the great corridor past the
cattle-yard (all cattle-yards in Yucatan
are in front of, or Immediately adjoining
the houses of the owners), past the well
where the women were drawing water, and
through garden of orange and lime trees.
The bee-hives were primitive but COM
plete, being merely hollow logs, cut about
two feet long, plastered up at each end
with mud, and piled in long rows Every
six weeks they are emptied, and at certain
seasons of the year the honey is so ordorous
of flowers as to scent the whole house.
One advantage in this industry is that the
bees of Yucatan are entirely stingless and
may be handled with IMMUNITY.
There are no less than three hundred
ma nd
estate, and everybody seems busy and
happy. Every servant re met saluted US
with CHEEKY buenos dias e. good day W
and when we left all added to this regret
ful farewell an earnest "To God | COM
mend you Outside of the hacienda walls
the homes of the laborers are scattered
along the road, curious elliptical huts
with stone walls and matched roofs. At
sunset, when the chapel bell sounded for
ordcion, or evening prayers, all the poems
and workmen, male and female, gathered
about with reverent faces. When it was
finished they came in procession, one by
one, and wished their masters and our
selves buenoS nocheS (good night. In
every portion Of Yucatan this is the uni
versal custom, servants and children never
failing to give this salutation of peace as
the last stroke of the vesper bell dies upon
the air.
We intended to have gone on that night,
but yielded to earnest entreaties to remain
the more readily, perhaps, because one
of US was suffering horribly from zdrripotas
(wood-ticks), with which the whole PENN
sula abounds. They are tiny creatures,
but produce an unbearable itching, Tester
ing bodily in the wounds they make. 1t is
impossible to travel here without encount-
ering them, and the only remedy is to keep
ones self well saturated with petroleum,
and to change his clothes every time tree
is passed.
For dinner, in addition to the usual
eggs, freioles and tortillas, we had turtle
soup, roast pig, claret and honey Let me
tell you how that pig was cooked in the
national way, derived from their fore
fathers-the same manner in which Ber-
nal Diaz says those respectable people
cooked men and women-"by sort of
oven, made with heated stones which are
put under ground" A hole was dug in
the courtyard, a large fire kindled in it,
and kept burning until it was heated like
an oven. Two clean stones were placed in
the bottom, the dressed pig laid upon them
and covered with leaves and bushes.
packed down with stones so closely as to
barely allow the smoke to escape. The
result was barbecue of finest flavor, which
even an enemy to pork must admire
FANNIE B. WARD.