redicted the downfall of that republic, and said that the conquering
army in Texas would proclaim Santa Ana emperor, march back upon the
capital, and place the diadem upon his head!

Amid the distraction and civil war that devastated his own country, he
had looked to ours as the model of a republic, and gave us many though
not very accurate details; and it seemed strange in this little
interior Indian town to hear an account of late proceedings in our own
capital, and to find one taking so deep an interest in them.

But the cura had more accurate knowledge in regard to matters nearer
home. The village of Chemax contains nearly ten thousand inhabitants,
and was in existence at the time of the conquest. Four years after the
foundation of Merida the Indians in the neighbourhood of Valladolid
formed a conspiracy to destroy the Spaniards, and the first blow was
struck at Chemax, where they caught two brothers, whom they put upon
crosses, and shot at from a distance till they were covered with
arrows. At sunset they took down the bodies, dismembered them, and sent
the heads and limbs to different places, to show that vengeance was
begun.

The curacy of Chemax comprehended within its jurisdiction all between
it and the sea. The cura had drawn up a report, by order of the
government, of the condition and character of the region under his
charge, and its objects of curiosity and interest, from which I copied
the following notice in regard to ruins known by the name of Coba.

"In the eastern part of this village, at eight leagues' distance, and
fourteen from the head of the district, near one of the three lagunas,
is a building that the indigenes call Monjas. It consists of various
ranges of two stories, all covered with arches, closed with masonry of
rude stone, and each piece is of six square yards. Its interior
pavement is preserved entire, and on the walls of one, in the second
story, are some painted figures in different attitudes, showing,
without doubt, according to the supposition of the natives, that these
are the remains of that detestable worship so commonly found.

"From this edifice there is a calzada, or paved road, of ten or twelve
yards in width, running to the southeast to a limit that has not been
discovered with certainty, but some aver that it goes in the direction
of Chichen Itza."

The most interesting part of this, in our eyes, was the calzada, or
paved road, but the information from others in the vil