is part, and such a troop of
Indians at command, that there was nothing for us to do. The Indians
sympathized in the mortification of their master, and, to indemnify me,
told me of two other ruined cities, one of which was but two leagues
from the village of Xul.

I returned and made my report, and Mr. Catherwood immediately proposed
a return to the village. Albino had given him an alarming account of
the unhealthiness of the rancho, and he considered it advisable to
avoid sleeping there a single night. Doctor Cabot was sitting up in his
hammock, dissecting a bird. A recurrence of fever might detain us some
time, and we determined on returning immediately to Xul. Our decision
was carried into execution as promptly as it was made and, leaving our
luggage to the care of Albino, in half an hour, to the astonishment of
the Indians and the mortification of the proprietor, we were on our way
to the village.

It was late in the evening when we arrived, but the cura received us as
kindly as before. During the evening I made inquiries for the place of
which the Indians at the rancho had told me. It was but two leagues
distant, but of all who happened to drop in, not one was aware of its
existence. The cura, however, sent for a young man who had a rancho in
that direction, and who promised to accompany me.

At six o'clock the next morning we started, neither Mr. Catherwood nor
Doctor Cabot being able to accompany me. At the distance of about two
leagues we reached an Indian rancho, where we learned from an old woman
that we had passed the path leading to the ruins. We could not prevail
on her to go back and show us the way, but she gave us a direction to
another rancho, where she said we could procure a guide. This rancho
was situated in a small clearing in the midst of the woods, enclosed by
a bush fence, and before the door was an arbour covered with palm
leaves, with little hammocks swinging under it, and all together the
picture of Indian comfort.

My companion went in, and I dismounted, thinking that this promised a
good stopping-place, when, looking down, I saw my pantaloons brown with
garrapatas. I laid hold of a twig, intending to switch them off, and
hundreds fell upon my hand and arm. Getting rid of those in sight as
well as I could, and mounting immediately, I rode off, hoping most
earnestly not to find any ruins, nor any necessity of taking up our
abode in this comfortable-seeming rancho.

We were fortunate in f