362 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



belonged, had been lying in his hands for the sale of all 

 land in the vicinity lying within certain limits ; but there 

 were no purchasers, and no sales were ever made. 

 Upon inquiry I learned that this order, in its terms, 

 embraced the ground occupied by the ruined city. No 

 exception whatever was made in favour of it. He 

 showed me the order, which was imperative ; and he 

 said that if any exception was intended, it would have 

 been so expressed ; wherefore he considered himself 

 bound to receive an offer for any portion of the land. 

 The sale was directed to be by appraisement, the appli- 

 cant to name one man, the prefect another, and, if ne- 

 cessary, they two to name a third; and the application, 

 with the price fixed and the boundaries, was to be sent 

 to Ciudad Real for the approval of the governor and a 

 deed. 



The tract containing the ruins consisted of about six 

 thousand acres of good land, which, according to the 

 usual appraisement, would cost about fifteen hundred 

 dollars, and the prefect said that it would not be valued 

 a cent higher on account of the ruins. I resolved im- 

 mediately to buy it. I would fit up the palace and re- 

 people the old city of Palenque. But there was one 

 difficulty : by the laws of Mexico no stranger can pur- 

 chase lands unless married to a hica del pais, or daugh- 

 ter of the country. This, by-the-way, is a grand stroke 

 of policy, holding up the most powerful attraction of 

 the country to seduce men from their natural alle- 

 giance, and radicate them in the soil ; and it is taking 

 them where weak and vulnerable ; for, when wander- 

 ing in strange countries, alone and friendless, buffeted 

 and battered, with no one to care for him, there are 

 moments when a lovely woman might root the stranger 

 to any spot on earth. On principle I always resisted 



