er disconsolate tone, that he had a
wife and children. His hermanito, or younger brother, however, had no
such ties, and would go with us. We made an agreement on the spot; and
nothing can show more plainly the sense which we entertained of the
security of travelling in Yucatan. In Central America we never dared to
take a man into our service without strong recommendations, for he
might be a robber or an assassin. These men we had never heard of till
they came upon us with their guns. Their manly bearing as hungers
inspired confidence, and the only suspicious circumstance was that they
were willing to take us without references; but we found afterward that
they had both known us at Nohcacab. The one whom we engaged was named
Dimas, and he continued with us until we left the country.

[Engraving 22: A Building]

On the same line, and but a short distance removed, though on a lower
terrace, is another building, measuring eighty-five feet in front,
which is represented in the plate opposite. It had a freshness about it
that suggested the idea of something more modern than the others. The
whole was covered with a coat of plaster but little broken, and it
confirmed us in the opinion we had entertained before, that the fronts
of all the buildings had been thus covered.

Our meeting with these young men was a fortunate circumstance for us in
exploring these ruins. From boyhood their father had had his rancho on
the savanna, and with their guns they had ranged over the whole country
for leagues around.

From the terrace of the first building we saw at a distance a high
hill, almost a mountain, on the top of which rose a wooded elevation
surrounding an ancient building. There was something extraordinary in
its position, but the young men told us it was entirely ruined, and,
although it was then but eleven o'clock, if we attempted to go to it,
we could not return till after dark. They told us, also, of others at
the distance of half a league, more extensive, and some of which, they
said, were, in finish and preservation, equal to these.

At one o'clock Doctor Cabot and myself, under the guidance of Dimas,
set out to look for them. It was desperately hot. We passed several
huts, and at one of them asked for some water; but it was so full of
insects that we could barely taste it. Dimas led us to the hut of his
mother, and gave us some from a vessel in which the insects had settled
to the bottom.

Beyond this we ascended the