198 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



hang our hammocks in the barracks and a dirty place it 

 was, even for a Spanish town. We managed to get 

 through the night, after a dinner much like the break- 

 fast, and started at seven only, having waited patiently 

 two hours after chocolate time, until our muleteers chose 

 to go on. The American Consul is with us and he is 

 supposed to have this expedition in charge and to have 

 made all the necessary arrangements with the command- 

 ing officers, but somehow thus far the orders which were 

 to have been issued have not yet met us, and all the 

 way through till we got to Chichen, we got only pro- 

 mises and very little had been done. 



The second day from Izamal to Tritas was pretty 

 tough riding ; if you will imagine a wagon driven at 

 full tilt from the fort at Key West over the rocky beach 

 to the redoubt, you have a sample of the kind of driving 

 we had. We got to Tuncas, twenty-nine miles, to break- 

 fast, glad indeed to have a little rest ; here we got into 

 the Indian country and I was glad to see that as far as 

 escort was concerned we were all right ; the road had 

 been well guarded for the next stage, and we arrived at 

 Tritas late, to find that all the plunder which Mr. Char- 

 nay had sent on two weeks before, to be sent to the 

 ruins, was still there, and the evening was spent in 

 swearing and trying to find horses and men to get all 

 this forward. At last, by dint of perseverance, the neces- 

 sary men were promised at five in the morning, and we 

 went to hammock pretty tired. Next morning it was 

 ten ! before we got the men and horses and we pushed 

 on fast with the horses and a light escort and reached 

 the ruins at two. 



You cannot imagine the damage these Indians have 

 done ; they still hold the greater part of Yucatan, ex- 



