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the sexes can only be distinguished by the white border on the quill feathers, which is broader and brighter in the male than in the female. But as the spring approaches, the plumage of the full-grown male bird becomes much more brilliant. Bechstein describes it thus: "A male, three years old or less, is distinguished in spring by the following colours, and by the name of redpole. The forehead is blood-red, the rest of the head reddish ashcoloured, the top rather spotted with black; the cheeks, sides of the neck, and circles round the eyes, have a reddish white tint; the feathers of the back are chesnut, with the edges lighter; the upper tail-coverts are black, edged with reddish white, the sides of the belly are pale rust-coloured; the rest of the under part of the body is reddish white; the greater wing-coverts are black, bordered with reddish white; the others are rusty brown, with a lighter border. The quill-feathers are black tipped with white; the first are edged with white nearly to the point, the narrow beard forms a parallel white streak to the quill-feathers; the tail is black and forked, the four outer feathers on both sides have a broad white border; that of the two middle feathers is narrower, and reddish white."

This remarkable change in the plumage of the male linnet takes place only in the wild state; those birds which have been reared in cages continue, like the females, of a greyish tint, and those which are red when brought into the house, lose all their beautiful colours in the first moulting, and remain grey afterwards. In old age the plumage of the male linnet in its wild state does not retain its original bright red, but fades into a yellow tint in those parts which were previously crimson. These yellow linnets are sought after by bird fanciers, because their song is generally very fine and clear; but they cannot be tained as younger birds can, and they take their confinement so ill, that they do not survive it for any length of time. The linnet and the canary are very similar in nature and habits, and are often paired. Their progeny can scarcely be distinguished from the grey canary. They sing well, and learn airs with facility.

The nest of the linnet is formed of moss and stalks of grass neatly interwoven with wool, and lined with feathers and hair. The eggs are four or five in number, of a bluish white, speckled with purplish red. The male lends no assistance in building the nest, but waits on the female, brings her food, and sings to her, while she prepares the home for their future progeny. He continues to watch her safety, and to pour forth his agreeable song during the time of hatching; but if he apprehends danger, he utters a plaintive cry, and flutters from bush to bush, without going far from the nest. At last the female attends to his warning, and quits the nest; but she does not leave it long. When the eggs open, both parents show great regard for their young, and nonrish them with tender seeds, prepared in their crop, and disgorged by the bill. Linnets have two, three,

and even four broods in a season.

The young birds assemble in large flocks and descend to the lowlands, where they are soon fattened by the more abundant aliment. At this time they are in some countries prized for culinary purposes, and consequently taken in great numbers in snares.

The treatment of linnets when they become cagebirds is very simple. Square cages are more suitable for them than round ones, since they are less disposed to giddiness therein, and also sing better. If it is wished to give them liberty in a room, a small tree or roosting-place should be set up in one corner of the apartment, and on this the birds will remain perched, and singing cheerfully all day long, only leaving their perch to eat or drink. Unless a roosting-place is provided, they will be indolent, and remain on the floor, to the danger of being trodden cn.

The general food of tame linnets is summer rape-seed. According to Bechstein the winter rape-seed, though not hurtful to them in the wild state, is injurious and even fatal if they are fed on it in the house. When young

male linnets are being trained in their song, they may be fed with the egg, &c., as already stated, or with oatmeal and rape-seed bruised in milk or water. They are given about as much as their bills will contain at a time, and are kept clean and warm. They become familiar if fed with the hand, and chirped to. When they can feed alone the summer rape-seed is given to them entire, but still moistened in water, so that they may break it the more easily. Their food is now varied by the addition of millet, radish, cabbage, lettuce, and plantain seeds, and sometimes a few bruised melon seeds or barberries. The more their food is varied, the fewer maladies they will have; but care must be taken not to over-feed them when confined to a cage. A supply of summer rape-seed must always be within the bird's reach; but the other kinds of food must be given sparingly and by turns. Birds that have liberty to range an apartment may be more freely fed than those that are wholly confined to their cages. Hemp-seed must be seldom given, and very sparingly, because it fattens them so much that they either die, or leave off singing. A little salt mixed with their food is very agreeable to them, and preserves them from many diseases. Linnets are very fond of bathing and of dusting their feathers with sand; they should therefore have a small bath of fresh water daily attached to the cage, and should also be supplied with a bed of fine sand, renewed from time to time. A small piece of plaster or chalk should be put into their cages to prevent constipation, to which they are very liable, and also to prevent epilepsy. Chalk is also a remedy for another disease to which linnets are subject, called by the French subtile. The symptoms are, melancholy, silence, and a bristling of the feathers. The bill at length becomes hard, the veins thick and red, the breast swelled, the feet callous, and so swelled that the bird can scarcely maintain itself upright.

Linnets are very liable to asthma, as are also most other house-birds. The disease may be detected by the short breathing of the bird, and by its often keeping the beak open as if to gasp for air. Dr. Bechstein's remarks on the causes and modes of treatment of this

disease in cage birds generally, are well worthy the attention of all who are possessed of these tame favourites.

The cause of asthma may doubtless be found in the mode of life which these birds lead. Their food is generally injurious, but liked by all; and is the more hurtful as it dry and heating, being principally hemp-seed, which is very inclines them to eat too much. If to this be added, the unchanged air of the rooms, particularly those which have stoves instead of chimneys, and the great heat which is kept up during winter, it is plain that there is much to injure the delicate lungs of these birds.

A moist and refreshing regimen, and some aperients, more or less often, according to the violence of the disease, and goldfinch, when attacked with very bad asthma, were appears the most appropriate remedy. A favourite linnet relieved and preserved for several years by the following method:-The first thing was to leave off hemp-seed entirely, confining them solely to rape-seed; but giving them at the same time abundance of bread, soaked in pure water, and then pressed; lettuce, endive, or water cresses, according to the season; giving them twice a week boiled by throwing a piece of the crumb of white bread, about the bread and milk, about the size of a nutmeg. This is made size of a nut, into a tea-cup full of milk, boiling it, and stirring it all the time till it is of the consistency of pap. It must be quite cold before it is given to the birds, and must always be made fresh, for if sour it will prove injuriThis paste, which they are very fond of, purges them sufficiently, and sensibly relieves them. In very violent attacks nothing but this paste ought to be given for two or relief. When the disease is slight, or only begun, it is sufthree days following, and this will soon give the desired ficient to give the bread and milk once in three or four days. When employed under similar circumstances, this treatment has cured several very valuable birds.

ous.

The numerous disorders to which birds are liable, and the general inattention which prevails on the subject, even among those who profess to be very fond

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of their birds, often cut short the lives which timely care might have preserved; but with common caution and proper treatment, linnets may be kept in the house for ten or twelve years, or even in some cases for a much longer period.

MERCHANT TAYLORS' SCHOOL.

II.

Ir will have been observed in the former part of our notice of this school, that it was originally built on a portion of Rose Manor, which belonged to the Duke of Buckingham. But that edifice being destroyed by the great fire of 1666, the present structure was erected on the same site by the Merchant Taylors' Company. It is a considerable building, supported on the east by stone pillars, forming a handsome clo ster, within which are apartments for the assistant-masters. There is also a library similarly supported by pillars, and having a collegiate appearance. It is well furnished with classical and other books for the use of the school. On the south of the library is the chapel, where the half-yearly examination of the scholars is held. It does not wear the appearance of a place of worship. The school-room, which is over the cloisters, is a spacious apartment of handsome proportions.

The schoolmaster first chosen to conduct this establishment was the Rev. Richard Mulcaster, M.A., of Christ-Church, Oxford. The post was an honourable one, but the stipend was so small (only ten pounds per annum), that it is doubtful whether the Company would have been able to secure the services of Mulcaster to the new foundation, had not Mr. Hills, one of the Company, added ten pounds to the salary from his own purse. Mulcaster was distinguished for his critical knowledge in Latin and Greek, and particularly for his attainments in Oriental literature. Scholars from all quarters soon flocked to the new school; and when, in less than twelve months, the establishment was submitted to the solemn visitation of the diocesan, the proficiency of some of the boys was pronounced equal to that which had been attained by the scholars of any school in the realm.

For a few years immediately after its foundation the school was but little connected with the Universities. The Company had agreed to keep a scholar either at Oxford or Cambridge, at the annual expense of five pounds, under the appellation of the "Marchaunt Taylors' Scholar," but this was not sufficient to advance the interests of the school. At length Sir Thomas White, who was a member of the Court, came forward as a munificent benefactor, and appropriated to its scholars thirty-seven fellowships at St. John's College, Oxford, which he had recently founded at his sole expense. This liberal benefaction immediately gave consequence to the foundation, and raised it to a superior rank among the public seminaries of the country.

This Sir Thomas White affords an early example of that generous spirit which has induced men of business to appropriate a portion of their gains to the advancement of learning. He was born at Reading in 1492, and at the age of twelve years was apprenticed to a tradesman or merchant in London. His apprenticeship lasted ten years, and he gave such satisfaction to his master, that at the death of the latter, White had a hundred pounds left to him. With this and the patrimony bequeathed by his father (who was a clothier), he commenced business on his own account, and rapidly rose to wealth and honours. At the same time he became distinguished by acts of benevolence. In 1542 he gave to the corporation of Coventry 1000l., which, with 4001. of their own, was laid out in the purchase of lands, from the rents of which provision was made for twelve poor men, and a sum raised to be lent to industrious young men of Coventry. He also gave to the

mayor and corporation of Bristol by deed, the sum of 2000/., and the same to the town of Leicester, to purchase estates and raise a fund from which sums of money might be lent to industrious tradesmen. There are portraits of this individual in the town-halls of Leicester and Salisbury, at Reading, Merchant Taylors', and St. John's College, Oxford.

Several generous individuals followed this good example, and came forward to remedy by their gifts the inconveniences which might arise from bestowing an academical education, upon young men, whose friends were not in pecuniary circumstances to aid them in their progress through it. Walter Ffysshe, anxious to relieve the sufferings of a number of ingenious youth, struggling with poverty, gave an exhibition of ten pounds per annum, "to be equally divided between five poor scholars of that college, that are most likely to bend their studies to divinity." And with this assistance he hoped they would be enabled "to pay their battels" with credit and comfort. John Vernon also founded four exhibitions of four pounds each, for students in divinity at St. John's. Next came John Wooller, who established one exhibition of forty shillings per annum, chargeable on his tenement, with the quay or wharfs called "The Cross Keys," in Thames Street. None of the students having applied for this exhibition for many years, the Company, like good stewards, doubled the value of it out of the money which had accumulated in their hands, so that it is now equal to Mr. Vernon's.

Shortly afterwards (in 1615) Thomas Whetenhall, Esq., founded three Divinity Lectures to be preached at three churches in the metropolis, with the express provision that in case the trustees should at any future time neglect to appoint lecturers, according to the trust reposed in them, the estates bequeathed for the purposes of his will should pass to the master and wardens of Merchant Taylors' School, for the benefit of four boys chosen out of the school, two of whom were to be educated at Oxford, and two at Cambridge.

The remaining endowments of the school are: One Fellowship, by Bishop Dee, at St. John's College, Cambridge, for his name or kin. Two Exhibitions of thirtysix pounds per annum, by the Rev. Dr. Stuart, i. e., one at St. John's, Oxford, the other at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. Six Scholarships of forty pounds per annum, by the Rev. Charles Parkyn, at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. Six Civil Law Scholarships of fifty pounds per annum, by Dr. John Andrew, at St. John's College, Oxford. And an Exhibition of uncertain value to any College in either University, arising from the interest of moneys formerly collected at the annual feast of the gentlemen educated at this school.

For the sake of due inquiry into the proficiency of the scholars, there are not only two probations in the year, performed by the master and ushers, but the probationers themselves undergo an examination twice in the year, by learned and judicious men appointed by the master and wardens. There is also a public examination of the scholars of the upper form, by the President and Fellows of St. John's College, Oxford, annually. This is performed on the 11th of June, previous to the election to vacant Fellowships in that College. At this time the name and order of the head scholars is printed, with a notice of their birth, admission, and continuance in the head form, and also an account of the subjects of the orations.

The school consists of eight forms. Boys are admitted at any age, and are placed according to their abilities and state of progress. But no boy can be placed higher than the fourth form, who is a candidate for the election to St. John's. The residence of young men at Merchant Taylors' School cannot be continued longer than the month of June before they are nineteen years of

age.

The holidays at this school are somewhat numerous.

SUPERIOR VALUE OF EDUCATED WORK-PEOPLE.

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The original intention of Merchant Taylors' School has certainly been departed from, inasmuch as it cannot now be considered, even in part, a free school. No boy can become a scholar in this establishment, without being subject to the payment of five pounds a year, besides a fee to the head master of ten shillings a quarter, with an additional twelve shillings a quarter for breaking-up money. But the benefit is still great, for the boys taught there are not confined to any particular class of society; the Company having always considered it open to any persons who wished to bring up their sons decently. According to the statute, they should be recommended to the school by the master and wardens of the Company, but in general they are put in by the head master promiscuously as they occur. They are taught Latin, Greek, and Hebrew: they receive a complete classical education, and nothing more. The boys are considered merely as day-scholars, except when they happen to board with the masters, which is a private

concern.

The historian of Merchant Taylors' School, in his elaborate and interesting account of that foundation, attributes the enlightened state of the middle classes of English society in a great measure to those respectable nurseries of literature, the public schools established in different parts of the kingdom. Ideas which might have perished beneath sordid habits, and in uncongenial circumstances, have been here fostered and expanded; genius which would probably have remained hidden alike from itself and from the world, has here shone forth; while the roughness of manners which too often forms the distinguishing feature in the class of English society to which we now refer, has been exchanged for a courteous and pleasing demeanour. More particularly are schools connected with the Universities of great importance to the national welfare. In them may be nurtured the future statesman, or the public champion of the truth, whose influential eloquence may be productive of the weightiest results, and whose wise and judicious decisions may save his country from numerous evils.

Merchant Taylors' School (says Mr. Wilson) does not indeed affect to enrol among her scholars many of the mighty or the noble. Her worthies have not been distinguished for hereditary rank, though in many instances the foundations of greatness have been laid within her walls. Nor has it fallen to the lot of her youth to fight the battles of their country, though when occasion has offered, they have shown themselves not deficient in patriotism and valour. But wherever the higher walks of commerce invite the British merchant to honourable enterprise, her sons are to be seen, foremost in pursuits to which the British empire is indebted for its opulence and grandeur. The healing art recognises some of them among her ablest and most successful practitioners. Law, the guardian of the constitution, and the preserver of every man's reasonable rights and liberties, welcomes in them the most upright and assiduous of her administrators. But, above all, does the Church rely on the fidelity of such of them as have devoted themselves to the service of her altars; no inconsiderable portion of the officiating clergy of the metropolis having been educated under the modest dome of Merchant Taylors' School.

THE Commissioners who were appointed to inquire into the condition of the Mining and Manufacturing Children received abundant testimonies of the dangerous nature of ignorance, and of the value of intelligence. The following answers from practical and experienced men, ought to increase our charity in knowledge.

(1) I have always found that the educated and instructed work-people, of whatever age or sex, are the better conducted and more valuable than the ignorant and illiterate. Every day's experience convinces me of the importance of diffusing information among the labouring classes.

(2) I find the ignorant generally very jealous and suspicious of any improvement which is to be introduced. I am of opinion that it would promote the interests of the employer if every mechanic, from the highest to the lowest, were well instructed.

(3) The better a man is educated the better workman he makes. I speak from the experience and observation of many years. Instruction and kindness towards the working classes has an elevating tendency.

(4) The educated and cultivated work-people, of all ages, are decidedly the best; they are more valuable as mechanics, because they are more regular in their habits, and more to be relied upon in their work. (5) I always find the men who are educated are more reasonable and more respectful in their behaviour than the ignorant. It occasionally happens that, from the increasing competition, a reduction of wages is required. When this happens I call my men together, and explain the circumstances to them, and inquire if they are willing to execute the order upon the terms offered: on these occasions I find that the educated class is most easily convinced of the real market requires. The educated class are better conducted state of the case, and therefore willing to accede to what the in their family relations than the uninformed.

(6) I cannot trust much to the young ones that have not been educated; they are generally not trustworthy. They are not so obliging as those who are educated; they are indolent, and will take advantage of you when your back is turned.

(7) I can tell at a glance children who attend school from those who do not; they are much more quick and intelligent.

(8) My best servants are those who have been best taught in their youth.

(9) We very rarely give work to any boy who cannot write, because we have found that at least three out of every four boys who could not write at the time of their entering our work have never done any good, being either worthless workers or worthless characters, or both.

(10) Education will never make men worse, but will surely improve their minds and dispositions. Of this I am certain, from long experience.

(11) The better educated conduct themselves better in times of difficulty and danger, in sickness and sorrow. In every opportunity I have had of observing, I always saw that the persons who could read bore up against difficulties better than others who could not, and would better console themselves and their families.

(12) They attend more to their moral and religious duties. The ignorant are less inclined to do their duty both towards God and man.

THE wisdom of man lies not in satirizing the vices of others, but in correcting his own.

PRIDE converts every specious virtue into nourishment for herself.

Ir you are wise you will speak less than you know.

of the mind.

This fine establishment is unendowed, and is entirely ATHLETIC games and pastimes subject the body to the empire supported, as it was first founded, by the Merchant Taylors' Company.

THE diseases of the body are to be prevented by temperance, or cured by medicine, or rendered tolerable by patience.

By reviewing various ages we gain a more enlarged way of thinking; and cease to admire exclusively that in which we live.

JOHN W. PARKER, PUBLISHER, WEST STRAND, LONDON.

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I.

"Oh! ye secret and terrific powers, Dark oracles! in depths of groves that dwelt How are they sunk, the altars of your bowers, Where superstition trembled as she knelt! Ye, the unknown, the viewless ones! that made The elements your voice, the wind and wave; Spirits! whose influence darkened many a shade, Mysterious visitants of fount and cave! How long your power the awe-struck nations swayed, How long earth dreamt of you, and shudderingly obeyed!

And say, what marvel in those early days,

While yet the light of heaven-born truth was not, If man around him cast a fearful gaze,

Peopling with shadowy powers each dell and grot! Awful is Nature in her savage forms,

Her solemn voice commanding in its might, And mystery then was in the rush of storms, The gloom of woods, the majesty of night; And mortals heard fate's language in the blast, And reared your forest-shrines, ye phantoms of the past' Then through the foliage not a breeze might sigh But with prophetic sound-a waving tree,

A meteor flashing o'er the summer sky,

A bird's wild flight, revealed the things to be.

All spoke of unseen natures, and conveyed

Their inspiration; still they hovered round,

Hallowed the temple, whispered through the shade,
Pervaded loneliness, gave soul to sound;

Of them the fount, the forest, murmured still,

Their voice was in the streams, their footstep on the hill."

VOL. XXIV.

FELICIA HEMANS.

INTRODUCTION.

THE ruined cities in Central America, Mexico, and Yucatan, formed the subject of two distinct Supplements at pp. 81 and 169 of the Twenty-First Volume of this Magazine. Mr. Stevens, the American traveller, to whom we were indebted for the descriptions and illustrations of the places there laid before the reader, has since then published the results of a more laborious survey of the antiquities of Yucatan. Attracted by the superior interest of these remains, he examined with closer attention cities but slightly noticed in his former visit, and was fortunate enough to discover many fresh vestiges of the ancient population. He inspected as many as forty-four ruined towns and-villages. The names, and even the very existence of most of these were entirely unknown to the residents of the capital; but few had ever been visited by white men; they were desolate and overgrown with trees. Time and the elements are hastening them to utter destru tion. In a few generations, great edifices, their façades covered with sculptured ornaments, already cracked and yawning, must fall and become mere shapeless mounds. Mr. Stevens' admirable descriptions, illustrated by one hundred and twenty drawings, have rescued them from entire oblivion. Mr. Norman, another American author, has also contributed his Rambles in Yucatan to our knowFrom these recent sources we ledge upon this subject. are furnished with the following graphic pictures of the finest antiquities of the country; but previous to entering

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upon a review of these remains, it were better to say a few words upon the condition, and

DISCOVERY OF YUCATAN.

The peninsula of Yucatan, which lies to the cast of the Gulf of Mexico, was discovered in the year 1506, by Juan Dias de Solis, and Vincent Yanez Pinzon, one of the companions of Columbus on his last voyage. These navigators, however, contented themselves with sailing along the eastern coast. But early in the year 1518, Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, a rich hidalgo of Cuba, sailing at hazard from Cuba towards the west, made the north-east point of Yucatan, which he named Cape Cotoche from the following circumstance. While making preparations to land, they saw coming to the ships five large canoes, with oars and sails, some of them containing fifty Indians; and on signals of invitation being made, about thirty came on board the captain's vessel. The next day the chief returned with twelve large canoes and numerous Indians, and invited the Spaniards to his town, promising them food, and whatever was necessary. The words he used were Conex cotoch, which in the language of the Indians of the present day, means, "Come to our town." Not understanding the meaning, and supposing it was the name of the place, the Spaniards called it Point, or Cape Cotoche,

which name it still bears.

The Spaniards upon landing were attacked by a great body of Indians, who slew seventeen of their number. The rest took to their ships and sailed on towards the west in sight of land. In fifteen days they discovered a large town, now called Campeachy, where there were some stone-built temples, on the walls of which were figures of serpents and other idols, and about one of the altars were drops of blood from a recent human sacrifice. From this, and likewise from another landing-place still further to the west, they were repulsed by the ferocity of the natives. Fifty-seven Spaniards were killed, only one soldier escaped unwounded, and the captain, Hernandez de Cordova, died shortly after at the Havanah.

In the same year another expedition from Cuba under Juan de Grijalva, "a hopeful young man, and well-behaved," fell in with the island of Cozumel, on the eastern coast of Yucatan, and proceeding further to the westward first heard at Tobasco the famous name of Mexico. The subsequent conquest of Mexico by Hernando Cortez*, caused that of Yucatan to be overlooked till 1526, when Don Francisco Montejo, a gentleman of Seville, obtained a grant from the King of Spain for the pacification and conquest of Yucatan and Cozumel. Amongst other articles, it was provided, that Montejo should hold an hereditary governorship, and that "no lawyers, or attorneys, should go into these lands from the kingdom of Spain, or any other part, on account of the litigation and controversies that would follow." The armament, consisting of four vessels and four hundred men, sailed from Seville in the following year. Landing on the shore, opposite to the island of Cozumel, the Spaniards commenced their march along the coast; but the Indians had determined to resist this invasion with all their strength, although for the moment they avoided any hostile demonstrations.

There were no roads, and the country was overgrown, as at the present day, with thick woods. But in spite of these impediments the Europeans proceeded inland as far as a town called Aké, where they found themselves confronted by a great multitude of Indians, who had hitherto lain in ambush. These were armed with quivers of arrows, lances pointed with sharp flints, and two hundred swords made of a very hard kind of wood. A fearful battle commenced, which lasted for two whole days, broken only by the hours of darkness. The Spaniards were left masters of the field, and of more, it is said, than 1200 slaughtered Indians.

Nothing further was effected till the following year, when a Captain Davila, with fifty foot-soldiers, and sixteen horsemen, were separated from the main body to search for gold. The attempt was fruitless, and when they requested a supply of provisions, the fierce answer of a native chief was that he would send fowls on spears, and Indian corn on arrows. In the mean time the commander of the expedition was again attacked by the Yucatecos, as the inhabitants of the peninsula are now called, and after losing 150 men, was obliged to retreat within his fortifications. From thence having escaped by night, the next we hear of him

*See Saturday Magazine, Vol. VI.,

, p.

42.

is at Campeachy, where he was joined by Captain Davila. After a series of sufferings they were compelled to abandon the undertaking, and in 1535 not a single Spaniard remained in the country.

Champoton, a place which lies a little to the south o. Campeachy, was the first scene in the subsequent attempt to subdue Yucatan. But this time different agents were employed. The venerable Franciscan friar Jacobo de Festera, although prelate of the rich province of Mexico, "zealous," says the historian, "for the conversion of souls, and desirous to reduce the whole world to the knowledge of the true God, offered himself for their spiritual conquest, expecting many hardships, and doubtful of the result." The friar, who was attended with four others of his order, sent some converted Mexicans to give notice of their arrival, and to say that they came in the spirit of peace, few in number, and without arms. They were received kindly; but the remainder of the narrative is involved in exaggeration. It is asserted that after forty days' communication, the lords of the land brought of their own free will all their idols, and delivered them to the priests, to be burned; that they likewise brought their children to be indoctrinated and taught, built the padres houses for themselves, and temples for their worship, and that twelve or fifteen lords of great territories, and many vassals, with the consent of their people, voluntarily acknowledged the dominion of the King of Castile. The speedy retreat which these missionaries shortly made from Yucatan is sufficient contradiction to their statements.

In 1537, the son of Don Francisco Montejo renewed the attempt of conquest, and planted the royal standard at Champoton. About ten years after this, during which time the Spaniards barely maintained their footing on the shore, the governorship of the colony was formally vested by the father, Don Francisco, in his son. The latter bore the same name, and received the entire command, "because," as his father says in the act of substitution, "I know that you are a person who will know how to do it well; putting first God our Lord, and the service of his majesty, and the good of the country, and the execution of justice."

In 1540, a Spanish city was founded in Campeachy under the name of San Francisco de Campeche. In the attempt to found another at the Indian town of Tihoo, the Spaniards were attacked with great fury by the natives. The latter were vanquished, and their spirit broken; they never rallied again for a general battle, and on the 6th of January, 1542, was founded, on the site of Tihoo, the very loyal and noble" city of Merida.

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PRESENT STATE OF YUCATAN.

From the time of its conquest, this country existed as a distinct captain-generalcy, not connected with Guatimala, nor subject to the viceroy of Mexico; and it continued so down to the Mexican revolution in 1810. The independence of Yucatan followed that of Mexico, to which state it connected itself; but, subsequently, to that of the Texas. The country is almost one entire plain, half of which, to the north, consists of a light soil formed upon solid and broken masses of a white lime and flint rock. The southern half is covered with deep rich loam, but much affected There are no rivers by the heavy rains of the summer.

in the interior, and the inhabitants in some places suffer much from a scarcity of water. Cultivated land is occasionally situated many miles from a public fountain. At a village called Nohcabab, near the ruins of Uxmal, every woman going to the public well carries a handful of corn, which she drops in a place provided for that purpose. This tribute is intended for the maintenance of the mule that draws the water.

The total population of Yucatan is something short of half a million of people, the majority of whom are Indians. Its society is divided, according to Mr. Stevens, into two great classes, those who wear pantaloons, and those who do not; the latter, and by far the most numerous body, going in drawers. The women wear a simple dress hanging from the shoulders, loose about the neck, and falling negligently to the ankles. The food of the Indian chiefly consists of corn, which is prepared by parboiling and crushing on a stone by means of a roller. It is principally made into cakes called tortillas, which are the favourite food of all ranks. Hospitality is one of their foremost virtues. The traveller is frequently asked to partake of refreshment, and to decline, if not construed as an offence, would certainly wound their sensibility.

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