Martha Walker Cook

“ From hence a traveller must furnish himself with every necessary for a journey of three days, having a wilderness, as they call it, a wood of about thirty-four Spanish leagues to the first Indian town, call’d Chumhubut: it is also best to take your own liquor with you for the whole journey, as there is not any to be had in this country except Aquadent, which is very bad, scarce, and dear. As to the acquiring my necessaries, provisions, mules, indians, &c. ”

“ The people are healthy, and, as they say, remarkable for their longevity. From the wood to Merida you pass fourteen Indian towns; in every one of which is a kind of church, or place of worship; tho’ one priest often officiates for three of these villages; riding from one to the other, having 21half way houses, or sheds, built for them by the poor Indians to secure them from rain; they appear to be superlatively ignorant, by what I could discover, thro’ the inconvenience of an interpreter ”

“ The wall about ten yards high, has no ditch, or out-work. The governor’s nephew is the commandant, who shew’d it me; ’tis by no means in a condition to defend itself against any foreign enemy that have artillery: a company of foot do duty here, and at the governor’s house, but a troop of horse, which are part here, and the 26rest at Campeachy, escort the governor when he goes out. I was credibly inform’d, there was not five hundred troops in the whole province.
The dress of the Spaniards in this country is very light; the men wear a light linen waistcoat and trowsers, and drawers ”

“ They have no upper room, no more than the provincial Spaniards, and like them, sleep all in their grass hammocks, 33as they are called, though they are made of the thready fibres of the leaves from the aloe-tree, in the same manner as hemp is got from the stalk; they just throw a cotton cloth over them; and when travelling, if night overtakes them, they sleep in these hammocks, hung between two trees; never neglecting however, to make a good wood fire close to their hammocks. Their diet is very simple, being no more than a maize cake, and a little pasoli to drink ”

“ From Chunhuhub to Merida is about fifty-seven Spanish leagues, and may be said to be entirely thro’ the woods, tho’ not so thick and lofty as the wilderness; and frequently as you approach the capital, opens to plantations; the path very serpentine, scarce ever 20seeing two hundred yards before you; the soil a reddish clay; very rocky; and the country low, level, and badly water’d, not crossing one river in a journey of ninety-one leagues from Baccalar to Merida. There is in every town a public well sunk with much difficulty, thro’ a strata of hard rock, some of these are very deep ”

“ In travelling thro’ the swamps it is very troublesome, the mules being knee deep, in the dry season, in a stiff blueish mud, often times nearly sticking fast, and the boughs of the logwood trees so low, as to oblige you to lay flat on the mules shoulders, whilst the animal is all that time plunging in endeavouring to extricate himself from the mire. ”

“ Being equipped with every necessary, as mules, indians, interpreters, and hammocks of that country, to be carried in case of wearying, or to sleep in the night, you enter the wood, whose path in general is from fifteen to twenty feet wide; often interrupted by the fall of large trees ”

“ Here a chief of the Indians always resides, being obliged so to do, to be ready to furnish travellers with every thing necessary they may want; prepare their victuals; get them fresh mules and Indians, who travel at the order of this chief, who is a kind of alderman in the village; you pay only for the mules, and that very cheap. ”

“ The police of each of these towns, is managed by the following officers, whose titles I am better acquainted with than their office: they are always of the best repute, and fair character; 31elderly men of the town, and have great respect shewn them by the Indians: they stand in rank as I here name them, the Cazique, Teniente, Alcaldi, and Fiscal ”

“ As soon as he discovers you coming into the town, by a particular shout, they prepare your victuals, wash your feet with warm water, and make every thing ready for your setting off again; the diet is generally fowls, eggs, or young pork ”

“ They are very active and dexterous in the woods with their muschalls, an instrument something between a knife and a cleaver, with which they clear away the bush in the woods, dress their meat, and use it as an instrument of offence on occasion. ”

“ Their principal employment is the cultivation of the plantations; they train their children to the practice of the bow and arrow; and with which they kill their game, not being permitted to use fire arms. ”

“ The women, of the lower class, a single petticoat only, no stays, or any other cloathing above the waist, except their shift; their bosoms no way concealed, but bare 27to the nipples of their breast; indeed, when they go out on a visit, even those who keep their calash, have no more than a silk scarf loosely flung over their shoulders ”