58 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



ten high to the centre of the arch. The walls and 

 ceihng were plastered, and the floor was of cement, 

 all hard and in a good state of preservation. A cen- 

 tipede was the only tenant after the evasion of the 

 iguana. 



While I was making these measm-ements, the In- 

 dians kept up a low conversation around the hole. 

 A mystery hung around it, transmitted to them by 

 their fathers, and connected with an indefinable 

 sense of apprehension. This mystery might have 

 been solved at any time in five minutes, but none 

 of them had ever thought of doing it, and the old 

 man begged me to come out, saying that if I died 

 they would have to answer for it. Their simplicity 

 and credulity seem hardly credible. They had all 

 sense enough to take their hands out of the fire 

 without being told, but probably to this day they be- 

 lieve that in that hole is the owner of the building. 

 When I came out they looked at me with admira- 

 tion. They told me that there were other places of 

 the same kind, but they would not show them to 

 me, lest some accident should happen ; and as my 

 attempt drew them all from work, and I could not 

 promise myself any satisfactory result, I refrained 

 from insisting. 



This chamber was formed in the roof of the low- 

 er building. That building contained two corridors, 

 and we had always supposed that the great interval 

 between the arches of the parallel corridors was a 



