The last day of our stay in Merida we saw the xtoles.  These are bands of indian dancers who go from house to house during the carnival season; they are dressed in costumes which reproduce some features of the ancient indian dress.  In the little company which we saw were fifteen dancers, including the standard-bearer; all were males, but half of them were dressed like females and took the part of such.  The male dancers wore the usual white camisa and drawers, but these had a red stripe down the side of the leg; jingling hawk-bells of tin or brass were attached to various parts of their dress; a red belt encircled the waist; all wore sandals.  The “female” dancers wore white dresses of the usual sort, with decorated borders at the arm and neck; also necklaces of gold beads and gold chains with pendants.  Two of the dancers were little children, but the rest appeared to be young men up to about thirty-five years of age.  All wore crowns upon the head; these consisted of a circlet of tin, from which rose two curved strips, which intersected over the middle of the head; from the circlet rose four feathers—­either natural or made of tin.  Two of the crowns of special size, with real feathers, marked the king and queen.  Under the crowns, covering the top of the head and hanging down from the shoulders, were gay handkerchiefs of red or blue.  All the dancers were masked.  The men wore bandoliers of cotton, worked with bright designs representing animals, birds and geometrical forms; the square ends of these were hung with marine shells.  In their hands, the dancers carried curious rattles and fans, which they used in making graceful movements as they danced.  The handle of the fan consisted of the leg and foot of a turkey, while the body was composed of the brilliant and beautifully spotted feathers of the ocellated turkey, a bird peculiar to Yucatan and the adjacent country.  There were two musicians, one with a long pito, or fife, and the other with a huehuetl or drum, which he struck with his hand.  Hanging to the side of the drum near the top was a turtle-shell, upon which the drummer beat, from time to time, with a deer’s horn.  A standard was carried by the company, which bore a representation of the sun, with dancers and a serpent; the pole by which it was carried was surmounted with a tin disk representing the sun’s face.  The music was apparently of indian origin and the words of the song were Maya.  The dancing itself was graceful and accompanied by many curious movements.  Mr. Thompson, our American consul to Yucatan, believes this dance is ancient, and thinks he has found representations of it painted on the walls of ancient ruins at Chichen Itza.

[Illustration:  THE XTOLES; Merida]

[Illustration:  THE XTOLES; Merida]