CHAPTER X.
HACIENDA OF NARANJO—LAZOING—DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE—FORMULAS—FÊTE OF LA CONCEPCION—TAKING THE BLACK VEIL—A COUNTRYWOMAN—RENOUNCING THE WORLD—FIREWORKS, ETC.—PROCESSION IN HONOUR OF THE VIRGIN—ANOTHER EXHIBITION OF FIREWORKS—A FIERY BULL—INSOLENT SOLDIERY.
The next day, in company with Mr. Savage, I rode to Naranjo, a small hacienda of the Aycinena family, about seven miles from the city. Beyond the walls all was beautiful, and in the palmy days of Guatimala the Aycinenas rolled to the Naranjo in an enormous carriage, covered with carving and gilding, in the style of the grandees of Spain, which now stands in the court-yard of the family-house as a memorial of better days. We entered by a spacious gate into a road upon their land, undulating and ornamented with trees, and by a large artificial lake, made by damming up several streams. We rode around the borders of the lake, and entered a cattle-yard of considerable extent, in the centre of which, on the side of a declivity, stood the house, a strong stone structure, with a broad piazza in front, and commanding a beautiful view of the volcanoes of the Antigua.
It was the season for marking and numbering the cattle, and two of the Senores Aycinena were at the hacienda to superintend the operations. The cattle had been caught and brought in; but, as I had never seen the process of lazoing, after dinner a hundred head, which had been kept up two days without food, were let loose into a field two or three miles in circumference. Eight men were mounted, with iron spurs three inches long on their naked heels, and each with a lazo in hand, which consisted of an entire cow's hide cut into a single cord about twenty yards long; one end was fastened to the horse's tail, which was first wrapped in leaves to prevent its being lacerated, and the rest was wound into a coil, and held by the rider in his right hand, resting on the pommel of the saddle. The cattle had all dispersed; we placed ourselves on an elevation commanding a partial view of the field, and the riders scattered in search of them. In a little while thirty or forty rushed past, followed by the riders at full speed, and very soon were out of sight. We must either lose the sport or follow; and in one of the doublings, taking particularly good care to avoid the throng of furious cattle and head-long riders, I drew up to the side of two men who were chasing a
