er the fence and laid down beside the grave.
The body had no coffin, but was wrapped from head to foot in a blue
cotton shawl with a yellow border. The head was uncovered, and the feet
stuck out, and had on a pair of leather shoes and white cotton
stockings, probably a present from her husband on his return from some
visit to Merida, which the poor woman had never worn in life, and which
he thought he was doing her honour by placing in her grave.

The Indians passed ropes under the body; the husband himself supported
the head, and so it was lowered into the grave. The figure was tall,
and the face was that of a woman about twenty-three or twenty-four
years old. The expression was painful, indicating that in the final
struggle the spirit had been reluctant to leave its mortal tenement.
There was but one present who shed tears, and that was the old mother
of the deceased, who doubtless had expected this daughter to lay her
own head in the grave. She held by the hand a bright-eyed girl, who
looked on with wonder, happily unconscious that her best friend on
earth was to be laid under the sod. The shawl was opened, and showed a
white cotton dress under it; the arms, which were folded across the
breast for the convenience of carrying the body, were laid down by the
sides, and the shawl was again wrapped round. The husband himself
arranged the head, placed under it a cotton cloth for a pillow, and
composed it for its final rest as carefully as if a pebble or a stone
could hurt it. He brushed a handful of earth over the face; the Indians
filled up the grave, and all went away. No romance hangs over such a
burial scene, but it was not unnatural to follow in imagination the
widowed Indian to his desolate hut.

We had been disappointed in not seeing any relic of Indian customs,
and, as it was now eleven o'clock and we had not breakfasted, we did
not consider ourselves particularly indemnified for our trouble.

CHAPTER XII.

Means by which the City was supplied with Water.--Aguadas.--A
delightful Bathing-place.--Manner of Living at the Ruins.--How to roast
a Pig.--Nameless Mound.--Excavations made in it.--Great Exertions.--A
bitter Disappointment.--An Attack of Fever.--Visit from the Cura of
Ticul.--Departure for Ticul.--A painful Journey.--Arrival at the
Convent.--Arrival of Dr. Cabot, ill with Fever.--Gloomy Prospects.--A
simple Remedy for Fever.--Aspect of Ticul.--The Church.--Funeral
Urn.