50 TIKAL. 



to remedy this omission by despatching two of the Lopez brothers and five or six 

 Indian mozos with orders to go straight to Tikal (about a five days' journey) and to 

 make paper moulds of all the monuments and carvings which we had noted in 1882, 

 but the expedition resulted in complete failure. The men reached Tikal in safety, 

 but could find no drinking-water during the last part of the journey, and when they 

 arrived at the small lagoon near the ruins which had afforded us a supply in 1881 and 

 1882 it was only to find that it was completely dry. 



There was nothing to do but to make the best of their way back again, and their 

 sufferings were severe, as for three days they had nothing to drink beyond what they 

 could collect from the water-lianas growing in the forest. 



