op, which at that distance, as seen through the trees,
seemed almost entire. It stood in a corn-field. I was not looking out
for anything of the kind, and but for the clearing made for the milpa,
I could not have seen it at all. I threw the bridle of my horse to the
major domo, and made for it, but it was not very easy of access. The
field, according to the fashion of the country, was enclosed by a
fence, which consisted of all the brush and briers collected on the
clearing, six or eight feet high and as many wide, affording a
sufficient barrier against wild cattle. In attempting to cross this, I
broke through, sinking almost to my neck in the middle, and was
considerably torn by thorns before I got over into the milpa.

The mound stood on one side of the milpa, isolated, and of the building
upon it, the lower part, to the cornice, was standing. Above the
cornice the outer wall had fallen, but the roof remained, and within
all was entire. There was no view from the top; beyond the milpa all
was forest, and what lay buried in it I had no means of ascertaining.
The place was silent and desolate; there was no one of whom I could ask
any questions. I never heard of these ruins till I saw them from the
back of my horse, and I could never learn by what name they are called.

At half past six we reached the village of Opocheque. In the centre of
the plaza was a large fountain, at which women were drawing water, and
on one side was a Mestizo family, with two men playing the guitar. We
stopped for a cup of water, and then, pushing on by a bright moonlight,
at nine o'clock reached the village of Moona, which the reader of my
former volumes may remember was the first stage of our journey on
leaving Uxmal for home.

Early the next morning we resumed our course. Immediately behind the
village we crossed the sierra, the same broken and stony range,
commanding on both sides the same grand view of a boundless wooded
plain. In an hour we saw at a distance on our left the high mound of
ruins visible from the House of the Dwarf, known under the Indian name
of Xcoch. About five miles before arriving at Uxmal, I saw on the right
another high mound. The intervening space was covered with trees and
thorn-bushes, but I reached it without dismounting. On the top were two
buildings about eighteen feet each, with the upper part of the outer
walls fallen. Of both, the inner part was entire.

At twelve o'clock I reached Uxmal. The extent of my j