AN ANCIENT WELL. 



179 



as it is to watch the march of improvement, it was 

 not for these we had come to Itm-bide. Within the 

 plaza were memorials of older and better times, in- 

 dications of a more ingenious people than the civ- 

 ilized whites by whom it is now occupied. At one 

 end was a mound of ruins, which had once support- 

 ed an ancient building ; and in the centre was an 

 ancient well, unchanged from the time of its con- 

 struction, and then, as for an unknown length of 

 time before, supplying water to the inhabitants. 

 There could be no question about the antiquity of 

 this well ; the people all said that it was a work of 

 the antiguos, and paid respect to it and valued it 

 highly on that account, for it had saved them the 

 labour and expense of digging a new one for them- 

 selves. 



It was about a yard and a quarter wide at the 

 mouth, and seven or eight yards in depth, circular, 

 and constructed of stones laid without plaster or ce- 

 ment of any kind. The stones were all firmly in 

 their places, and had a polish which, with creases 

 made by ropes in the platform at the top, indicated 

 the great length of time that water had been drawn 

 from it. 



Besides these memorials, from a street communi- 

 cating with the plaza we saw a range of great 

 mounds, the ruins of the ancient city of Zibilnocac, 

 which had brought us to Iturbide. 



Don Juan was ready to accompany us to the 

 ruins, and while he was waiting at our door, one 



