mong hills, and was more picturesque than any we had seen
in the country. At the distance of a mile and a half we reached a field
of ruins, which, after all we had seen, created in us new feelings of
astonishment. It was one of the circumstances attending our exploration
of ruins in this country, that until we arrived on the ground we had no
idea of what we were to meet with. The accounts of the Indians were
never reliable. When they gave us reason to expect much we found but
little, and, on the other hand, when we expected but little a great
field presented itself. Of this place even our friend the cura Carillo
had never heard. Our first intelligence of ruins in this region was
from the brother of the padrecito at Nohcacab, who, however, had never
seen them himself. Since our arrival in the country we had not met with
anything that excited us more strongly, and now we had mingled feelings
of pain and pleasure; of pain, that they had not been discovered before
the sentence of irretrievable ruin had gone forth against them; at the
same time it was matter of deep congratulation that, before the doom
was accomplished, we were permitted to see these decaying, but still
proud memorials of a mysterious people. In a few years, even these will
be gone; and as it has been denied that such things ever were, doubts
may again arise whether they have indeed existed. So strong was this
impression that we determined to fortify in every possible way our
proofs. If anything could have added to the interest of discovering
such a new field of research, it was the satisfaction of having at our
command such an effective force of Indians. No time was lost, and they
began work with a spirit corresponding to their numbers. Many of them
had hachas, or small axes, and the crash of falling trees was like the
stirring noise of felling in one of our own forests.

[Engraving 10: Pyramidal Mound and Building at Labna]

The plate opposite represents a pyramidal mound, holding aloft the most
curious and extraordinary structure we had seen in the country. It put
us on the alert the moment we saw it. We passed an entire day before
it, and, in looking back upon our journey among ruined cities, no
subject of greater interest presents itself to my mind. The mound is
forty-five feet high. The steps had fallen; trees were growing out of
the place where they stood, and we reached the top by clinging to the
branches; when these were cleared away, it was extreme