stizas in my country; if I would like to take her
home with me; then said that he could not spare this one, but I might
take my choice of the others; insisting loudly upon my making a
selection, and promising to deliver any one I liked to me at the
convent.

At first I supposed that these fiscales were, like the vaqueros, the
principal young men of the village, who, for that day, gave themselves
up to frolic and fun, but I learned that these were not willing to
assume such a character, but employed others known to them for wit and
humour, and, at the same time, for propriety and respectability of
behaviour. This was a _matador de cochinos_, or pig butcher, of
excellent character, and _muy vivo_, by which may be understood "a
fellow of infinite wit and humour." The people of the village seemed to
think that the power given him to whip the Mestizas was the extremity
of license, but they did not consider that, even for the day, they put
him on equal terms with those who, in his daily walks, were to him as
beings of another sphere; for the time he might pour out his tribute of
feeling to beauty and attraction, but it was all to be regarded as a
piece of extravagance, to be forgotten by all who heard it, and
particularly by her to whom it was addressed. Alas, poor matador de
cochinos!

According to the rules, the mantle and sash which he had thrown at the
feet of the lady belonged to her, and he was obliged to appeal to the
charity of the spectators for money to redeem them. In the mean time
the dance continued. The fiscales, having once taken ground as dancers,
were continually ordering the vaqueros to step aside, and taking their
places. At times, too, under the direction of the fiscales, the idle
vaqueros seated themselves on the ground at the head of the arbour, and
all joined in the hacienda song of the vaqueria, in alternate lines of
Maya and Castilian. The chorus was led by the fiscales, with a noise
that drowned every other sound; and while this boisterous merriment was
going on, the light figures of the Mestizas were moving in the dance.

At twelve o'clock preparations were made for a dejeuner a la
fourchette, dispensing, however, with knives and forks. The centre of
the floor was cleared, and an enormous earthen jar, equal in capacity
to a barrel, was brought in, containing frigoles, or black beans fried.
Another vessel of the same size had a preparation of eggs and meat, and
near them was a small mountain of to