DESCRIPTION OF THE RUINS. 153 



company us, but she ran into the hut. Beyond this we 

 reached a wall of stones, but broken and confused. We 

 tied our horses in the shade of trees, and commenced ex- 

 ploring on foot. The ground was covered with mounds 

 of ruins. In one place we saw the foundations of two 

 houses, one of them about a hundred feet long by fifty 

 feet broad. It was one hundred and forty years since 

 Fuentes published the account of his visit ; during that 

 time the Indians had carried away on their backs stones 

 to build up the modern village of Tecpan Guatimala, 

 and the hand of ruin had been busily at work. We in- 

 quired particularly for sculptured figures ; our guide 

 knew of two, and after considerable search brought us 

 to them. They were lying on the ground, about three 

 feet long, so worn that we could not make them out, 

 though on one the eyes and nose of an animal were 

 distinguishable. The position commanded an almost 

 boundless view, and it is surrounded by an immense ra- 

 vine, which warrants the description given of it by Fu- 

 entes. In some places it was frightful to look down 

 into its depths. On every side it was inaccessible, and 

 the only way of reaching it was by the narrow passage 

 through which we entered, its desolation and ruin add- 

 ing another page to the burdened record of human con- 

 tentions, and proving that, as in the world whose his- 

 tory we know, so in this of whose history we are igno- 

 rant, man's hand has been against his fellow. The sol- 

 itary Indian hut is all that now occupies the site of the 

 ancient city ; but on Good Friday of every year a sol- 

 emn procession of the whole Indian population is made 

 to it from the village of Tecpan Guatimala, and, as our 

 guide told us, on that day bells are heard sounding un- 

 der the earth. 



Descending by the same narrow passage, we trav- 



Vol. II.— U ' 



