f diverging
for the last time to visit the ruins of Ake. The road was one of the
best in the country, made for carriages, but rough, stony, and
uninteresting. At Cacalchen, five leagues distant, we stopped to dine
and procure a guide to Ake.

In the afternoon we proceeded, taking with as only our hammocks, and
leaving Dimas to go on direct with the luggage to Merida. Turning off
immediately from the main road, we entered the woods, and following a
narrow path, a little before dark we reached the hacienda of Ake, and
for the last time were among the towering and colossal memorials of an
aboriginal city. The hacienda was the property of the Conde Peon, and,
contrary to our expectations, it was small, neglected, in a ruinous
condition, and entirely destitute of all kinds of supplies. We could
not procure even eggs, literally nothing but tortillas. The major domo
was away, the principal building locked up, and the only shelter we
could obtain was a miserable little hut, full of fleas, which no
sweeping could clear out. We had considered all our rough work over,
but again, and within a day's journey of Merida, we were in bad
straits. By great ingenuity, and giving them the shortest possible tie,
Albino contrived to swing our hammocks, and having no other resource,
early in the evening we fell into them. At about ten o'clock we heard
the tramp of a horse, and the major domo arrived. Surprised to find
such unexpected visiters, but glad to see them, he unlocked the
hacienda, and walking out in our winding sheets, we took possession;
our hammocks followed, and were hung up anew. In the morning he
provided us with breakfast, after which, accompanied by him and all the
Indians of the hacienda, being only six, we went round to see the
ruins.

[Engraving 70: Mound called El Palacio]

The plate opposite represents a great mound towering in full sight
sight from the door of the hacienda, and called El Palacio, or the
Palace. The ascent is on the south side, by an immense staircase, one
hundred and thirty-seven feet wide, forming an approach of rude
grandeur, perhaps equal to any that ever existed in the country. Each
step is four feet five inches long, and one foot five inches in height.
The platform on the top is two hundred and twenty-five feet in length,
and fifty in breadth. On this great platform stand thirty-six shafts,
or columns, in three parallel rows of twelve, about ten feet apart from
north to south, and fifteen from e