the Indians. This put an end to the clearing, Mr.
Catherwood had a recurrence of fever, and in the intervals of sunshine
Dr. Cabot and myself worked with the Daguerreotype.

In the mean time, from the difficulty of procuring water and
necessaries, we found our residence at these ruins uncomfortable. Our
Indians, whom we had engaged to carry our luggage, complained of the
detention, and, to crown our troubles, the owner of the olla came, and
insisted upon having it returned. Mr. Catherwood, too, was unable to
work, the woods were wet with the rain, and we considered it advisable
to change the scene. There is no place which we visited that we were so
reluctant to leave unfinished, and none that better deserved a month's
exploration. It remains a rich and almost unbroken field for the future
explorer, and, that he may have something to excite his imagination,
and, at the same time, to show that the love of the marvellous is not
confined to any one country, I may add that, upon the strength of a
letter of mine to a friend in the interior, giving an account of the
discovery of this place, and mentioning the vestiges of six buildings,
we found, on our return to Merida, that these six had gone on
accumulating, and had not been fairly brought to a stop till they had
reached six hundred!

CHAPTER X.

Departure from Labphak.--Sugar Ranchos.--Hacienda of
Jalasac.--Cultivation of Sugar.--Another Rancho.--Its neat
Appearance.--Senor Trego's Establishment.--A Well.--Seybo
Trees.--Journey resumed.--Village of Iturbide.--Its Settlement and
rapid Growth.--An Acquaintance.--Oppressive Attentions.--Lunar
Rainbow.--Appearance of the Village.--Mound of Ruins.--Visit to the
Ruins of Zibilnocac.--A Well.--A long Edifice.--Lazy Escort.--An
anxious Host.--Return to the Village.--A prosperous Emigrant.--A
Dinner.--Medical Practice.--Deplorable Condition of the Country in
regard to Medical Aid.--Second Visit to the Ruins.--Front of an
Edifice.--Square Structures.--Interesting Painting.--An ancient
Well.--Mounds.--Vestiges of a great City.

On Thursday, the twenty-fourth of February, we broke up and left the
ruins. A narrow path brought us out into the camino real, along which
we passed several small ranchos of sugar-cane. At eleven o'clock we
reached the hacienda of Jalasac, the appearance of which, after a few
days' burial in the woods, was most attractive and inviting; and here
we ventured to ask for