250 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



frightful than any we had yet travelled ; and there were 

 other difficulties. War was again in our way ; and, 

 while all the rest of Mexico was quiet, Tobasco and 

 Yucatan, the two points in our journey, were in a state 

 of revolution. This might have disturbed us greatly 

 but for another difficulty. It was necessary to present 

 ourselves at Ciudad Real, three days' journey directly 

 out of our road, to procure a passport, without which we 

 could not travel in any part of the Mexican republic. 

 And, serious as these things were, they merged in a 

 third ; viz., the government of Mexico had issued a per- 

 emptory order to prevent all strangers visiting the ruins 

 of Palenque. Dr. M'Kinney told us of his own knowl- 

 edge that three Belgians, sent out on a scientific expe- 

 dition by the Belgian government, had gone to Ciudad 

 Real expressly to ask permission to visit them, and had 

 been refused. These communications damped some- 

 what the satisfaction of our arrival in Comitan. 



By Dr. M'Kinney's advice we presented ourselves 

 immediately to the commandant, who had a small gar- 

 rison of about thirty men, well uniformed and equipped, 

 and, compared with the soldiers of Central America, giv- 

 ing me a high opinion of the Mexican army. I showed 

 him my passport, and a copy of the government paper 

 of Guatimala, which fortunately stated that I intended 

 going to Campeachy to embark for the United States. 

 With great courtesy he immediately undertook to relieve 

 us from the necessity of presenting ourselves in person 

 at Ciudad Real, and offered to send a courier to the 

 governor for a passport. This was a great point, but 

 still there would be detention; and by his advice we 

 called upon the prefeto, who received us with the same 

 courtesy, regretted the necessity of embarrassing my 

 movements, showed us a copy of the order of the gov- 



