it evidently appears, a man of unusual intelligence and
scholastic acquirements, he had doubtless felt, as he states, a profound
but hopeless curiosity concerning their origin and history. He had even
seen and consecutively examined the numerous and ornate monuments of
Copan; but it was not until he had proceeded to the second stage of the
journey from Coban to Quiche, that he was shown the engravings in the
first volume of Stevens's Central America, in which they are so
faithfully depicted. He recognized many of them as old acquaintances,
and still more as new ones, which had escaped his more cursory
inspection; and in all he could trace curious details which, on the
spot, he regretted the want of time to examine. He, moreover, knew the
surly Don Gregorio, by whom Mr. Stevens had been treated so
inhospitably, and several other persons in the vicinity of the ruins
whom he had named, and was delighted with the _vraisemblance_ of his
descriptions. The Senor confesses that these circumstances inspired him
with unlimited confidence in that traveller's statements upon other
subjects; and when Mr. Huertis read to him the further account of the
information given to Mr. Stevens by the jolly and merry, but intelligent
old Padre of Quiche, respecting other ruined cities beyond the Sierra
Madre, and especially of the living city of independent Candones, or
unchristianized Indians, supposed to have been seen from the lofty
summit of that mountain range, and was told by Messrs. Huertis and
Hammond that the exploration of this city was the chief object of their
perilous expedition, the Senor adds, that his enthusiasm became
enkindled to at least as high a fervor as theirs, and that, "with more
precipitancy than prudence, in a man of his maturer years and important
business pursuits, he resolved to unite in the enterprise, to aid the
heroic young men with his experience in travel and knowledge of the
wild Indians of the region referred to, and to see the end of the
adventure, result as it may."

He was confirmed in this resolution by several concurring facts of which
his companions were now told for the first time. He intimately knew and
had several times been the guest of the worthy Cura of Quiche, from whom
Mr. Stevens received assurances of the existence of the ruined city of
the ancient Aztecs, as well as the living city of the Candones, in the
unsubjugated territory beyond the mountains. And he was induced to yield
credence to th