94 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



distressed by the magnitude of what was before 

 us, but, for the present, we could do nothing, and 

 I determined at once to change the scene. The 

 festival of Ticul was at hand, and that night it 

 was to open with el bayle de las Mestizas, or the 

 Mestiza ball. Ticul lay in our return route, nine 

 leagues from the village of Xul, but I determined to 

 reach it that evening. My companion did not sym- 

 pathize in my humour ; his vaquero saddle hurt him, 

 and he could not ride faster than a walk. I had 

 need to economize all my strength ; but I took his 

 hard-trotting horse and uneasy saddle, and gave him 

 mine. Pushing on, at eleven o'clock we reached 

 Xul, where I had my horse unsaddled and washed, 

 ordered him a good mess of corn, and two boiled 

 eggs for myself. In the mean time, Mr. Cather- 

 wood had a recurrence of fever and ague, and my 

 horse was led away ; but the attack proved slight, 

 and I had him brought out again. At two o'clock I 

 resumed my journey, with a sheet, a hammock, and 

 Albino. The heat was scorching, and Albino would 

 have grumbled at setting out at this hour, but he, 

 too, was ripe for the fiesta of Ticul. 



In an hour we saw in the woods on our right 

 large mounds, indicating that here, too, had once 

 stood an ancient city. I rode in to look at them, but 

 the buildings which had crowned them were all fallen 

 and ruined, and I only gained an addition to the 

 stock of garrapatas already on hand. We had not 

 heard of these ruins at the village, and, on inquiring 

 afterward, I could find no name for them. 



