we encountered in the country. I had seen
something of them in Central America, but at a different season, when
the hot sun had killed off the immensity of their numbers, and those
left had attained such a size that a single one could easily be seen
and picked off. These, in colour, size, and numbers, were like grains
of sand. They disperse themselves all over the body, get into the seams
of the clothes, and, like the insect known among us as the tick, bury
themselves in the flesh, causing an irritation that is almost
intolerable. The only way to get rid of them effectually is by changing
all the clothes. In Uxmal we had not been troubled with them, for they
are said to breed only in those woods where cattle pasture, and the
grounds about Uxmal had been used as a milpa, or plantation of corn. It
was the first time I had ever had them upon me in such profusion, and
their presence disturbed most materially the equanimity with which I
examined the paintings. In fact I did not remain long on the ground.

It is particularly unfortunate that, while so many apartments have
remained free, this most curious and interesting one has become filled
up. It is probable that the walls, as well as the arch, are plastered
and painted. It would have cost a week's labour to clear it out, and my
impression was, that, in consequence of the dirt having been piled up
against the walls for an unknown length of time, through a long
succession of rainy seasons, the colours were so completely effaced
that nothing would have been discovered to compensate for the labour.

It was now nearly dark. My day's work had been a severe one. I was
tired and covered with garrapatas, but the next day was Sunday, the
last of the fiesta, and I determined on returning to the village that
night. There was a brilliant moonlight, and, hurrying on, at eleven
o'clock I saw, at the end of a long straight road, the illuminated
front of the church of Jalacho. Very soon, amid the shining lights and
congregated thousands, I forgot desolations and ruins, and my
sympathies once more moved with the living. I passed by the tables of
the gamblers, worked my way through the plaza and through a crowd of
Indians, who fell back in deference to the colour of my skin, and,
unexpectedly to my friends, presented myself at the baile. This time I
had no disposition to sleep. For the last night of the fiesta the
neighbouring villages had sent forth their all; the ball was larger and
gayer