SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 201 



making these notes, in which I was however 

 interrupted several times by intimations that 

 it was not here the custom to write letters on 

 feast-days. In the afternoon our host and 

 his family took us to examine the waterfall, 

 and then to visit the padre of the parish, 

 who, on being informed by Mr. Hall of the 

 object of my visit, told me that, when a young 

 man, he had visited a very curious cavern 

 a few miles distant, in which report said 

 was concealed part of Montezuma"^ trea- 

 sure, and that it had in heathen times been 

 the residence of a celebrated hermit, and still 

 contained statues and idols ; but that the 

 place was so concealed by nature, and so 

 seldom an object of curiosity, that only a few 

 persons in the district near it could point out 

 the spot. He promised however to write to 

 the clergyman of the parish for guides to 

 meet us at his house, in order to conduct us 

 to it. A little before dark our whole party 



