with plaster, which is very abundant
through that region, since all the ridges are composed of it. So that
these buildings do not resemble those which are here in this Province,
for the latter are of pure worked stone, laid without mortar,
particularly the part which relates to arches; but the former are of
rough stone and mortar, covered with plaster."

False Hopes; Further Hardships. "It seemed to us that these buildings
stood near a settlement, from the information which the soldiers had
given us, when we were going on the new road to Guatemala, but it
turned out to be the dream of a blind man, since we found ourselves, as
we saw afterwards, very far from a settlement. We traveled through
these woods when we came upon a dry river, which we followed a long
while to see if we found water, which we came across, though late,
which is better than never. Before that, God willed that we should meet
a _Kamas_, or a great mound of earth, which the ants build, in which we
found a little honey to eat, and, as every sweet thing at once calls
for water, and we were late in finding it, it did not fail to give us
trouble. By following the abovementioned river, we came to the said
_aguada_, which was quite large, similar to those which they call
_Petens_. This made us go around through plenty of woods and
affliction, so as to get past it."

They Face Starvation. "We passed the said _aguada_ and afterwards some
hills, with other rivers, although they were dry, though the hollows in
them were a proof of their being very full in the rainy season. The
signs were not deceptive, for at a little distance we fell in with a
great _cibal_ or pond full of those grasses with broad and cutting
leaves, of which I spoke before. This was, according to its distance
which was lost to sight, more than two leagues long and half a league
broad. Into this discharged the currents of the rivers of which I
spoke, and it cost us much trouble to go around it, so as to pass it,
changing our course in this, as in the other cases, which I have spoken
of, always to the North. In all this time we had nothing to eat, except
the little honey that I spoke of, so that the animated mass of bones,
owing to the continued troubles of traveling every day and not eating,
now kept growing weaker and weaker. In such a great extremity of a
man's dying without sickness or infirmity, being in his perfect senses,
one can well understand what cries he would utter to God and