probably indebted for his life. In
another day, the determined explorers had come within the circuit of the
alpine district in which Iximaya is situated, and found it reposing, in
massive grandeur, in the centre of a perfectly level plain, about five
leagues in diameter, at a distance of scarcely two from the spot they
had reached. At the base of all the mountains, rising upon their sides,
and extending nearly a mile inward upon the plain, was a dark green
forest of colossal trees and florid shrubbery, girding it around; while
the even valley itself exhibited large tracts of uncultivated fields,
fenced in with palisades, and regular, even to monotony, both in size
and form. "Large herds of deer, cattle, and horses, were seen in the
openings of the forest, and dispersed over the plain, which was also
studded with low flat-roofed dwellings of stone, in small detached
clusters, or hamlets. Rich patches of forest, of irregular forms,
bordered with gigantic aloes, diversified the landscape in effective
contrast with bright lakes of water which glowed among them."

While the whole party, with their cavalcade of mules and baggage were
gazing upon the scene, two horsemen, in bright blue and yellow tunics,
and wearing turbans decorated with three large plumes of the quezal,
dashed by them from the forest, at the distance of about two hundred
yards, on steeds of the highest Spanish mould, followed by a long
retinue of athletic Indians, equally well mounted, clothed in brilliant
red tunics, with coronals of gay feathers, closely arranged within a
band of blue cloth. Each horseman carried a long spear, pointed with a
polished metal; and each held, in a leash, a brace of powerful
blood-hounds, which were also of the purest Spanish breed. The two
leaders of this troop, who were Indians of commanding air and stature,
suddenly wheeled their horses and glared upon the large party of
intruders with fixed amazement. Their followers evinced equal surprise,
but forgot not to draw up in good military array, while the blood-hounds
leapt and raged in their thongs.

"While the leaders," says Senor Velasquez, "seemed to be intently
scrutinizing every individual of our company, as if silently
debating the policy of an immediate attack, one of the Maya
Indians, of whom I had been learning the dialect, stepped forward
and informed us that they were a detachment of rural guards, a very
numerous military force, which ha