in general, it bears out and sustains the news presented in these
pages.

On the afternoon of the 11th of March we bade farewell to Don Pio
Perez, and set out for Chichen. Ever since we left home we had had our
eyes upon this place. We had become eager to reach it, and the
increasing bulk of these volumes warns me that I must not now linger on
the road. I shall therefore barely say that the first night we stopped
at the village of Taihxiu, the second at Yaxcaba and at noon of the
third day we reached Piste about two miles, distant from Chichen. We
had heard some unpropitious accounts concerning the hospitality of the
proprietor of the hacienda, and thought it safer not to alarm him by
going upon him with appetites sharpened by a hard day's ride, but first
to lay the village under a moderate contribution.

At four o'clock we left Piste, and very soon we saw rising high above
the plain the Castillo of Chichen. In half an hour we were among the
ruins of this ancient city, with all the great buildings in full view,
casting prodigious shadows over the plain, and presenting a spectacle
which even after all that we had seen, once more excited in us emotions
of wonder. The camino real ran through the midst of them, and the field
was so open that, without dismounting, we rode close in to some of the
principal edifices. Involuntarily we lingered, but night was
approaching, and, fairly drawing ourselves away, we rode on, and in a
few minutes reached the hacienda. Vaqueros were shouting, and a large
drove of cattle was pouring in at the gate. We were about following,
but a crowd of men and women on the steps of the hacienda shouted to us
not to come in, and a man ran toward us, throwing up both hands, and
shut the gate directly in our faces. This promised us another Don
Gregorio welcome; but this ominous demonstration did not mean anything
churlish; on the contrary, all was done out of kindness. We had been
expected for three months. Through the agency of friends the proprietor
had advised the major domo of our intended visit, directing him to do
all in his power to make us comfortable, and it was for this reason
that the latter had ordered the gate to be shut upon us, for, as the
man who did it told us, the hacienda was overrun with women and
children, and there was no room for another hammock. He conducted us
to the church, standing in a fine situation, and offered us the
sacristia, or vestry-room, which was new, clean, and had