gn countries and different parts of the same country make
opportunities for buying and selling an every-day thing; and at this
day, in general throughout Europe, for all articles of necessity, and
even of luxury, every man has, as it were, a fair every day at his own
door. But the countries in America subject to the Spanish dominion have
felt less sensibly, perhaps, than any others in the world, the onward
impulse of the last two centuries, and in them many usages and customs
derived from Europe, but there long since fallen into oblivion, are
still in full force. Among them is this of holding fairs, of which,
though several took place during the time of my journey in Central
America, I had no opportunity of seeing any.

The fair of Jalacho was an observance of eight days, but the first two
or three were marked only by the arrival of scattering parties, and the
business of securing places to live in and to display wares. The great
gathering or high change did not begin till Thursday, which was the day
of my arrival, and then it was computed that there were assembled in
the village ten thousand persons.

Of all this crowd the plaza was the grand point of concentration.
Along the houses fronting it was a range of tables set out with
looking-glasses in frames of red paper, rings and necklaces, cotton,
and toys and trinkets for the Indians. On the opposite side of the
street, along the square of the church, were rustic arbours, occupied
by venders having similar commodities spread before them. The plaza was
partitioned, and at regular intervals was a merchant, whose shop was a
rude stick fixed upright in the ground, and having another crosswise at
the top, covered with leaves and twigs, thus forming a sort of
umbrella, to protect its sitting occupant from the sun. These were the
merchants of dulces and other eatables. This part of the fair was
constantly crowded, and perhaps nine tenths were Indians from the
pueblos and haciendas around. Don Simon Peon told me that he had
entered on his books a hundred and fifty _criados_, or servants, who
had applied to him for money, and he did not know how many more were
present.

It may be supposed that the church was not uninterested in this great
gathering. In fact, it was the fete of Santiago, and among the Indians
this fiesta was identified with the fair. The doors of the church were
constantly open, the interior was thronged with Indians, and a crowd
continually pressing to the a