hat
we really were in ignorance of it. Eighty half-dozen cakes of sugar were
unloaded into the little canoe, which paddled away. We waited, noting
with regret that the falling water, probably due to tide, was fixing our
canoe more and more firmly in the mud. Finally, the little canoe came
back, taking another eighty half-dozen cakes of sugar on board. Our
canoe having been thus lightened, we made another effort to move it,
and, after many struggles and groans, finally found ourselves in deeper
water, embarked, and poled off. Having reached the place upon the bank
where the canoe loads had been left, we stopped to freight again. To our
surprise, we found here once more the eight boxes of _chapapote_, which,
apparently, had been carted across. We were now able to calculate the
load which our "empty" canoe, hired at thirty pesos, in order to take us
quickly through to Tampico, was carrying:

120 dozen cakes of _panela_, of 2 lbs 2,880 lbs.
8 boxes _chapapote_, of 125 lbs 1,000 lbs.
6 sacks of beans, of 100 lbs 600 lbs.

Total 4,480 lbs.

In other words, we had been crowded and delayed by more than two tons of
cargo. Perhaps, had we been actually alone in the boat, it might have
made its journey in the twenty-four hours promised, instead of the sixty
of accomplishment. It was nine o'clock when we were again aboard, and we
made the boatman travel all night long. At the stroke of half-past-three
we heard the bells of Tampico, and drew up along the waterside-landing
of that city. For two full hours we lay there, listening to the buyers
bartering with the boatmen for their load of maize, _frijol_ and
_panela_ until daylight, when we gave orders to unload.

CHAPTER XXII

IN MAYA LAND

(1901)

We had planned to go from Tampico to Chiapas, and from there to Yucatan,
where we were to finish our work for the season. We found, however, that
there was no certainty in regard to a boat for Coatzacoalcos, while the
Benito Juarez was about to sail for Progreso the next day. Not to lose
time, we decided to do our Yucatan work first, and to let Chiapas wait
until later. We were busy that day making arrangements for departure,
and in the afternoon hired a canoe to take our stuff from the wharf to
the boat, which was standing out in the river, beyond Dona Cecilia.
There was a brisk wind against us, and we almost arrived too late to
have our lugga