ire in one corner, to drive
away malaria, and at night we had a bonfire out of doors. The grass and
bushes which had been cut down on the terrace, parched and dried by the
hot sun, were ready for the fire; the flames lighted up the facade of
the great palace, and when they died away, the full moon broke upon it,
mellowing its rents and fissures, and presenting a scene mournfully
beautiful.

CHAPTER XI.

Superintending Indians.--The Storm El Norte.--Arrival of Don
Simon.--Subterraneous Chambers.--Discovery of broken Pottery and a
Terra Cotta Vase.--Great Number of these Chambers.--Their probable
Uses.--Harvest of the Maize Crop.--Practical Views.--System of
Agriculture in Yucatan.--Planting of Corn.--A primitive Threshing
Machine.--News from Home.--More Practice in Surgery.--A rude
Bedstead.--A Leg Patient.--An Arm Patient.--Increasing Sickness on the
Hacienda.---Death of an Indian Woman.--A Campo Santo.--Digging a
Grave.--An Indian Funeral.

The next day I resumed my occupation of superintending the Indians. It
was, perhaps, the hardest labour I had in that country to look on and
see them work, and it was necessary to be with them all the time; for
if not watched, they would not work at all.

The next day opened with a drizzling rain, the beginning of the
prevailing storm of the country, called El Norte. This storm, we were
told, rarely occurred at this season, and the mayoral said that after
it was over, the regular dry season would certainly set in. The
thermometer fell to fifty-two, and to our feelings the change was much
for the better. In fact, we had begun to feel a degree of lassitude,
the effect of the excessive heat, and this change restored and
reinvigorated us.

This day, too, with the beginning of the storm, Don Simon arrived from
Jalacho, according to promise, to pay us a visit. He was not in the
habit of visiting Uxmal at this season, and though less fearful than
other members of his family, he was not without apprehensions on
account of the health of the place. In fact, he had suffered much
himself from an illness contracted there. At the hacienda he found the
mayoral, who had just returned with me from Jalacho, ill with calentura
or fever. This, with the cold and rain of the Norther, did not tend to
restore his equanimity. We insisted on his becoming our guest, but
agreed to let him off at night on account of the moschetoes. His visit
was a fortunate circumsta