dols
worshipped by the people of this ancient city.

[Engraving 34: Sculptured Stone Figure]

There were others of the same general character, of which the sculpture
was more defaced and worn; and, besides these, there were monuments of
a different character, half buried, and dispersed without apparent
order, but which evidently had an adaptation to each other; after some
examination, we made out what we considered the arrangement in which
they had stood, and had them set up according to our combination. The
following engraving represents these stones. They vary from one foot
four inches to one foot ten inches in length.

[Engraving 35: Skull and Crossbones]

Each stone is two feet three inches high. The subject is the skull and
cross-bones. The sculpture is in bas-relief and the carving good, and
still clear and distinct. Probably this was the holy place of the city,
where the idols or deities were presented to the people with the
emblems of death around them.

The ruins lie on the common lands of the village of Nohcacab, at least
so say the alcaldes of that place, but Don Simon Peon claims that they
are within the old boundaries of the hacienda of Uxmal, and the
settling of the question is not worth the expense of a survey. The name
Nohpat is compounded of two Maya words, which signify a great lord or
senor, and this is all the information I was able to collect about this
ancient city. If we had met with it on our former journey we should
have planted ourselves, and given it a thorough exploration. The mounds
and vestiges of buildings were perhaps as numerous as those of Uxmal,
but they were all ruined. The day was like the finest of October at
home, and, as a relief from the heat of the sun, there was a constant
and refreshing breeze. The country was open, or studded with trees
barely enough to adorn the landscape, and give picturesque beauty to
the ruins. It was cut up by numerous paths, and covered with grass like
a fine piece of upland at home, and for the first and only time in the
country we found pleasure in a mere ramble over fields. Bernaldo came
out from the village with a loaded Indian at the precise moment when we
wanted dinner, and altogether it was one of the most agreeable and
satisfactory days that we passed among the relics of the antiguos.

[Engraving 36: Street in the Village of Nohcacab]

The next day, being the eighth of January, we set out for the ruins of
Kabah. Our direction was south,