TOWNS, PKODUOTIVE INDUSTRY, ETC. 
255 
visions for two days, and started with no one but the guide to accompany me. 
Before we got out of the valley I discovered a heap of ruins covering a quarter 
of an acre of ground, but the stone was so much broken down, that I could 
form no idea of its original shape. We proceeded on with much difficulty, 
and at dark arrived nearly at the summit of the mountain, where we made a 
large fire and camped for the night. At sunrise we renewed our attempt to 
reach the highest point, which occupied us until ten o'clock a. m. This sum- 
mit is crowned with lofty pines so closely foliaged, that in order to get a 
view of the country beneath, I was obliged to climb one of the tallest of the 
trees, which well repaid my efforts. Indeed, it has never been my fortune to 
behold a scene so magnificent. In the distance was the broad Gulf of Tehuan- 
tepec — the silver lake of Telema — the immense plains, with here and there a 
. small angular hillock rising out of it like an island from the sea — the waving 
fields of ripening grain — the shining spires of the distant city, and the green 
winding hedges which mark its suburbs. 
" About mid-day we started to return, retracing our steps by the same path 
until reaching the valley where we bore off to the south, and came into it again 
some distance from where we crossed it on our way up. Here I found a large 
mass of ruins, some ten acres in extent, partially inclosed by a wall ten feet 
high and four feet thick. Within this inclosure the ground was paved with 
stones, which are in excellent preservation. In the centre there are two monu- 
ments, one square and the other round, each about twenty feet in diameter at 
the base. These are broken down to within ten feet of the pavement, and are 
surrounded by steps. * * * These ruins which I have described are but a 
small portion of what exist in other parts of the mountain. 
" The Indians have a superstition that there was a church on the top of this 
mountain, over the ruins of which the devil is supposed to preside; and 
when they saw my fire, various speculations and opinions were advanced as to 
the manner his Satanic majesty would dispose of me. Indeed, so current is 
this superstition, that while among the ruins I could not get my guide ten steps 
in advance of me, and he even climbed the tree after me for protection. * * * 
In the archives of Juchitan there is still a traditionary document which makes 
the depopulation of Guiengola three hundred years ago. How long anterior to 
that period its works were constructed, is a matter of grave or fanciful con- 
jecture." 
Between the southern slope of the dividing ridge and the 
ocean there are several minor settlements, among which are La 
Cienega, Ttacotejpec, Oomitancillo, Misteqmlla, Huilotepec, Hua- 
zontlan, and Zuleta. In addition, there are also the Huave 
towns of San Mateo, Santa Maria, San Dionisio, and San 
Francisco, located on the sandy peninsula separating the la- 
goons from the Pacific, all of which have so little of interesting 
