VALLADOLID. 



327 



at length ascertained what we supposed to be the 

 fact, that in two places on the coast called Tancar 

 and Tuloom, what were taken for Spanish forts were 

 aboriginal buildings. Our business at Valladolid 

 was to make arrangements for reaching them, and 

 at the same time for coasting round Cape Catoche, 

 and visiting the Island of Cozumel. We had been 

 told that at Valladolid we should be able to procure 

 all necessary information about the ruins on the 

 coast ; but we could not even learn the way to 

 reach them ; and by the advice of Don Pedro Ba- 

 randa we determined to remain a few days, until a 

 person who was expected, and who was familiar with 

 that region, should arrive. 



In the mean time, a few days did not hang heavy 

 on our hands in Valladolid. The city, which was 

 founded at an early period of the conquest, contains 

 about fifteen thousand inhabitants, and is distin- 

 guished as the residence of the vicar-general of the 

 church of Yucatan. 



It was built in a style commensurate with the 

 lofty pretensions of the conquerors, and, like other 

 cities of Spanish America, bears the marks of an- 

 cient grandeur, but is now going to decay. The 

 roads leading to it and the very streets are over- 

 grown with bushes. The parochial church still 

 stands, the principal object in the plaza, and the 

 churches of San Servacio, San Juan De Dios, San- 

 ta Lucia, Santa Ana, La Virgen de la Candelaria, 

 and the Church of Sisal, the largest buildings in the 

 city, are all more or less dilapidated. 



