WILD SCENERY. 



389 



cident that had ever occurred at Tancar, and be- 

 fore we reached the end of the beach he wanted to 

 go traveUing with us. Ascending the cHff, and pass- 

 ing beyond the two buildings we had seen the day 

 before, we descended from the rear of the last to the 

 head of the chasm which had seemed to cut us off 

 from the principal object of our visit; ascending 

 again at the other end of the ravine, we entered a 

 gloomy forest, and, passing a building on the left^ 

 with " old walls" visible in different places indistinct- 

 ly through the trees, reached the grand staircase of 

 the Castillo. The steps, the platform of the build- 

 ing, and the whole area in front were overgrown 

 with trees, large and principally ramon, which, with 

 their deep green foliage and the mysterious buildings 

 around, presented an image of a grove sacred to 

 Druidical worship. 



Our boatmen and Molas cut a path up the steps, 

 and, carrying up their loads, in an hour we were 

 domesticated in the Castillo. We had undertaken 

 our long journey to this place in utter uncertainty 

 as to what we should meet with ; impediments and 

 difficulties had accumulated upon us, but already we 

 felt indemnified for all our labour. We were amid 

 the wildest scenery we had yet found in Yucatan ; 

 and, besides the deep and exciting interest of the 

 ruins themselves, we had around us what we want- 

 ed at all the other places, the magnificence of na- 

 ture. Clearing away the platform in front, we look- 

 ed over an immense forest; walking around the 



