30 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



top, which is a favourite food for horses. The stems, 

 tied up in bundles three or four inches thick, are 

 used for torches. On one side of this field we saw 

 the high building before referred to, and on the oth- 

 er side was a second not visible before. A bird 

 which the doctor wished to procure lighted on a 

 tree growing upon the latter, and we went to it, but 

 found nothing of particular interest, and struck 

 across the field of taje for the former. This taje 

 was as bad as the woods to walk through, for it 

 grew so high as to exclude every breath of air, and 

 was not high enough to be any protection against 

 the sun. 



The building stood on the top of a stony hill, on 

 a terrace still firm and substantial. It consisted of 

 two stories, the roof of the lower one forming the 

 platform in front of the upper, and had a staircase, 

 which was broken and ruined. The upper build- 

 ing had a large apartment in the centre, and a small- 

 er one on each side, much encumbered with rub- 

 bish, from one of which we were driven by a hor- 

 net's nest, and in another a young vulture, with a 

 hissing noise, flapped its plumeless wings and hop- 

 ped out of the door. 



The terrace commanded a picturesque view of 

 wooded hills, and at a distance the Casa Grande, and 

 the high wall before presented. They were per- 

 haps three or four miles distant. All the interme- 

 diate space was overgrown. The Indians had trav- 

 ersed it in all directions in the dry season, when 



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