EXCAVATIONS. 



231 



superintendent of a cochineal hacienda at Amatitan. 

 He had heard of our setting out for Mexico, and, dis- 

 gusted with his occupation and the country, had mount- 

 ed his horse, and with all he was worth tied on behind 

 his saddle, pushed on to overtake us. On the way he 

 had bought a fine mule, and by hard riding, and chan- 

 ging from one animal to the other, had reached us in 

 four days. He was in difficulty about a passport, and 

 was anxious to have the benefit of mine in order to get 

 out of the country, offering to attach himself to me in 

 any capacity necessary for that purpose. Fortunately, 

 my passport was broad enough to cover him, and I im- 

 mediately constituted him the general manager of the 

 expedition, the material of which was now reduced to 

 Juan sick and but one cargo-mule sound. 



At nine o'clock, attended by three men and a boy 

 with machetes, being all we could procure at so short 

 a notice, we were again among the ruins. We were 

 not strong enough to pull down a pyramid, and lost the 

 morning in endeavouring to make a breach in one of 

 the sides, but did not accomplish anything. 



In the afternoon we opened one of the mounds. The 

 interior was a rough coat of stones and lime, and after 

 an hour's digging we came to fragments of bones and 

 the two lower vases in the plate opposite. The first of 

 the two was entire when we discovered it, but, unfor- 

 tunately, was broken in getting it out, though we ob- 

 tained all the pieces. It is graceful in design, the sur- 

 face is polished, and the workmanship very good. The 

 last was already broken, and though more complicated, 

 the surface is not polished. The tripod at the top of 

 the engraving is a copy of the vase before referred to, 

 found in the tomb, which I procured from the owner of 

 the land. It is twelve inches in diameter, and the sur- 



