180 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



person and another came along and joined him, un- 

 til we had an assemblage of all the respectable cit- 

 izens, apparently just risen from the gambling-table, 

 of wan and miserable aspect, and, though they had 

 ponchas wrapped about them, shivering with cold. 



On the way to the ruins we passed another an- 

 cient well, of the same construction with that in the 

 plaza, but filled up with rubbish, and useless. The 

 Indians called it Stu-kum, from a subject familiar 

 to them, and presenting not a bad idea of a useless 

 well ; the word meaning a calabash with the seeds 

 dried up. A short walk brought us into an open 

 country, and among the towering ruins of another 

 ancient city. The field was in many places clear 

 of trees, and covered only with plantations of to- 

 bacco, and studding it all over were lofty gauges and 

 mounds, enshrouded in woods, through which white 

 masses of stone were glimmering, and rising in such 

 quick succession, and so many at once, that Mr. 

 Catherwood, in no good condition for work, said, 

 almost despondingly, that the labours of Uxmal were 

 to begin again. 



Among them was one long edifice, having at each 

 end what seemed a tower ; and, attended by our 

 numerous escort, we approached it first. It was 

 difticult to imagine what could have procured us 

 the honour of their company. They evidently 

 took no interest in the ruins, could give us no infor- 

 mation about them, nor even knew^ the paths that 

 led to them ; and we could not flatter ourselves that 



