the shore is strewed
with her fragments.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Port of Silan.--Hospitality.--Breakfast.--Walk along the Shore.--
Flamingoes.--Shooting Excursion to Punta Arenas.--Wild Road.--Take
Possession of a Hut.--Great Variety and immense Numbers of Wild
Fowl.--Get Stuck in the Mud.--Flamingoes and Spoonbills.--A ludicrous
Adventure.--Dissection of Birds.--Return to the Port.--The Quartel.--A
Catastrophe.--Departure.--Village of Silan.--Gigantic Mound.--View
from its Top.--Another Mound.--Accounts of Herrera and Cogolludo.--The
Grave of Lafitte.--Hospitality of the Padres.--Departure from
Silan.--Temax.--Church and Convent.--Izamal.--Fiesta of Santa
Cruz.--Appearance of the City.--Mounds.--Colossal Ornaments in
Stucco.--Gigantic Head.--Stupendous Mound.--Interior Chambers.--Church
and Convent.--Built on an ancient Mound.--A Legend.--A Ball.

At daylight the next morning we crawled out from the bottom of the
canoa, and found her anchored off the port of Silan, which consisted of
a few huts built around a sandy square on a low, barren coast. We gave
portions of our tattered garments to the waves, and waded ashore. It
was three weeks since we had embarked; our coast voyage had been more
interesting than we expected, but there was no part of it so agreeable
as the end; we were but too happy to get rid of the discomfort and
confinement of the canoa. The patron went to find lodgings for us, and
I followed with one of the boatmen, carrying a load. A man just opening
the door of a sort of warehouse called to me, and offered it for our
accommodation, which, on looking within, I did not hesitate to accept.
This man had never heard of us nor we of him, and, probably, neither
will ever hear of the other again. It was another instance of the
universally kind treatment we met with in all parts of the country.

Silan is the port of Izamal, which is eleven leagues distant.
According to our arrangement, Dimas was to meet us here with the
horses, but he had not arrived or been heard of. We learned, however,
that there was no green food to be procured at this place, which Dimas
had probably learned at the village, three leagues distant, and had
therefore remained at that place; yet we had some uneasiness, as he had
to make a journey of two hundred and fifty miles, and our first
business was to despatch Albino for information. Next we had a great
enterprise in procuring breakfast, and after this in