RUINS NEAR RABINAL. 25 



between the hills we found several round holes about eighteen inches in diameter, 

 faced with plaster or stone, forming the mouths of small underground chambers, 

 which may have been intended for storage, or possibly were used for vapour-baths. 



RUINS NEAP, &ABINAL. 



(Plates LXX. & LXXI.) 



The two towns of Cubulco and Eabinal in the province of the Baja Vera Paz are 

 situated about twelve miles apart at either end of a plain surrounded by high ranges 

 of hills. Lower hills run out into the plain from north and south, and almost divide 

 it in two near the middle, and spurs of the high range and partly detached hills jut 

 out into the plain from all sides. Many of these lower hill-tops are the sites of 

 ancient Indian buildings, and on one of them, to the north of the town of Eabinal, 

 the ruins are visible from the town itself. I rode through this valley in 1887, but 

 unfortunately was able to devote one day only to the examination of the Indian 

 remains. I chose as the object of my excursion a group of ruined buildings almost 

 equidistant from Rabinal and Cubulco. 



A spur of the bare rocky foothills, rising to over one thousand feet in height, here 

 juts out into the plain from the main northern range, and for about three quarters of 

 a mile along its top ridge stands the ruins of an Indian town. A rough sketch 

 of the position of the groups of buildings is given on Plate LXX. At the narrow 

 neck where the spur leaves the main range there are the remains of two curved Avails 

 about fifty yards apart, which were no doubt used for defensive purposes. Outside 

 these walls towards the main range there is one group of buildings marked A. On 

 leaving this group and crossing the walls to follow the ridge towards the south, the 

 top and slopes of the hill, for about one hundred feet down on either side, are seen to 

 be covered with the small terraced foundations which may have supported very small 

 houses built of some perishable material, or may possibly be the sites of burial-places. 

 These terraces, some of which can be seen on Plate LXXI., a, are sometimes oblong, 

 measuring 20-30 feet in length by 6-7 feet in width ; but more often they are 

 of this shape : — 



and they stand out from the hill thus :— 



Along the ridge of the hill there are seven separate groups of what must have been 

 biol. cente.-amer., Archseol., Vol. II., February 1901. e 



