336 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



a firebrand had been thrown among them they could 

 not have been more astounded. The village was 

 the Ultima Thule of population, the last between 

 Valladolid and Tancah, and the surprise caused by 

 our appearance did not subside when we told them 

 that we were on our way to the latter. They all 

 told us that it was impossible. Tancah was a mere 

 rancho, seventy miles distant, and the whole inter- 

 mediate country was a dense forest. There was 

 no road to it, and no communication except by an 

 overgrown footpath. It was utterly impossible to 

 get through without sending Indians before to open 

 a road all the way ; and, to crown all, we would be 

 obliged to sleep in the woods, exposed to mosche- 

 toes, garrapatas, and rain, which last, in our uncer- 

 tain state, we regarded with real apprehension. 



The rancho was established by one Molas, a 

 smuggler and pirate, who, while under sentence of 

 death in Merida, escaped from prison, and estab- 

 lished himself at this lonely point, out of the reach 

 of justice. Soldiers had been sent from Merida to 

 arrest him, who, after advancing as far as Chemax, 

 turned back. In consequence of new political ex- 

 citements, change of government, and lapse of time, 

 the persecution, as it is called, against poor Molas 

 had ceased ; and, having an attack of sickness, he 

 ventured up from the coast, and made his appearance 

 in the village, to procure such medical aid as it af- 

 forded. No one molested him ; and after remain- 

 ing a while he set out to return on foot with a sin- 



