here agriculture is not flourishing. The
small number of the white inhabitants, and the distracted state of the
country make both life and property very insecure; and the brown people
are becoming less and less disposed to labour on the plantations.

It is true that most of these channels were made in old times; little
new is done now, and I could make a long list of estates that were once
busy and prosperous, giving employment to thousands of the Indian
inhabitants, and that are now over-grown with weeds and falling to
ruin.

Entering the iron gate of the hacienda, we found ourselves in an
immense courtyard, into which open all the principal buildings of the
estate, the house of the proprietor, the church--which forms a
necessary part of every hacienda--the crushing-mill, and the
boiling-houses. Into the same great patio open the immense stables for
the many riding-horses and the many hundreds of mules that carry the
sugar and rum over the mountains to market, and the tienda, the shop of
the estate, through which almost all the money paid to the labourers
comes back to the proprietor in exchange for goods. A mountain of
fresh-cut canes stood near the door of the trapiche (the
crushing-mill); and a gang of Indians were constantly going backwards
and forwards carrying them in by armfuls; while a succession of mules
were continually bringing in fresh supplies from the plantation to
replenish the great heap. The court-yard was littered all over,
knee-deep, with dry cane-trash; and mules, just freed from their
galling saddles, were rolling on their backs in it, kicking with all
their legs at once, and evidently in a state of high enjoyment. Part of
one side of the square was a sort of wide cloister, and in it stood
chairs and tables.

Here the business of the place was transacted, and the Administrador
could look up from his ledger, and see pretty well what was going on
all over the establishment.

It is very common for the owners of these haciendas to be absentees,
and to leave the entire control of their estates to the administradors;
but at Temisco, which is much better managed than most others, this is
not the case, and the son of the proprietor generally lives there. He
was out riding, so we sent our horses to the stable, and lounged about
eating sugar-canes till he should return. Presently he came, a young
man in a broad Mexican hat and white jacket and trousers, mounted on a
splendid little horse, with his sadd