the buildings, but from its geographical position, and the
direction of the line of march of the Spanish army from the coast, I
have little doubt that their Ake was the place now known by the same
name, and occupied by the ruins last presented. It is, indeed, strange
that no mention is made of the buildings, but regard must be had to the
circumstances of danger and death which surrounded the Spaniards, and
which were doubtless always uppermost in the minds of the soldiers who
formed that disastrous expedition. At all events, it is not more
strange than the want of any description of the great buildings of
Chichen, and we have the strongest possible proof that no correct
inference is to be drawn from the silence of the Spaniards, for in the
comparatively minute account of the conquest of Mexico, we find that
the Spanish army marched under the very shadow of the great pyramids of
Otumba, and yet not the slightest mention whatever is made of their
existence.

I have now finished my journey among ruined cities. I know that it is
impossible by any narrative to convey to the reader a true idea of the
powerful and exciting interest of wandering among them, and I have
avoided as much as possible all detailed descriptions, but I trust that
these pages will serve to give some general idea of the appearance
which this country once presented. In our long, irregular, and devious
route we have discovered the crumbling remains of forty-four ancient
cities, most of them but a short distance apart, though, from the great
change that has taken place in the country, and the breaking up of the
old roads, having no direct communication with each other; with but few
exceptions, all were lost, buried, and unknown, never before visited by
a stranger, and some of them, perhaps, never looked upon by the eyes of
a white man. Involuntarily we turn for a moment to the frightful scenes
of which this now desolate region must have been the theatre; the
scenes of blood, agony, and wo which preceded the desolation or
abandonment of these cities But, leaving the boundless space in which
imagination might rove, I confine myself to the consideration of facts.
If I may be permitted to say so, in the whole history of discoveries
there is nothing to be compared with those here presented. They give an
entirely new aspect to the great Continent on which we live, and bring
up with more force than ever the great question which I once, with some
hesitation, undert