RUINS OF TULOOM. 



387 



the spot. Afterward they went again, dug it up, 

 put it in a box, brought it to the rancho, and embark- 

 ed with it in a canoa for San Fernando, where some 

 of their kinsmen lived. On the way they were over- 

 taken by a storm, thew the body overboard, and, 

 said our informant, that was the hist of poor old Mo- 

 las. The elder son was said to have been implica- 

 ted with his father, and the curse seemed entailed 

 upon him. He had lost entirely the use of one eye, 

 and the other rolled feebly and lustreless in a watery 

 orbit. Probably by this time he is perfectly blind. 



Our first inquiries were upon the subject of ruins. 

 A short path through the woods leads to a milpa, in 

 which are numerous remains of ancient buildings 

 standing on terraces, but all small and dilapidated. 

 These buildings once stood erect in full view from 

 the sea, but now the stranger sails along the coast 

 unconscious that among the trees lie shrouded the 

 ruins of an aboriginal town. 



In the afternoon we set out for the ruins of Tuloom, 

 a league distant on the coast, and with the Castillo 

 on a high cliff in full sight. Our road lay for a mile 

 and a half along the shore. The beach was sandy, 

 and in some places so yielding that we sank above 

 the ankles, and found it a relief to take off our shoes 

 and stockings, and w^ade in the edge of the water. 

 At the end of the beach was a high rocky promon- 

 tory, standing out into the sea, and cutting off all 

 progress along the shore. This we ascended, and 



