394 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



room, Ivdving, like the Castillo, a triangular- arched 

 roof. Over the doorway is the same cm'ious figm*e 

 w^e saw^ at Sayi, w^ith the head down and the legs 

 and arms spread out ; and along the cornice were 

 other curious and peculiar ornaments. The door- 

 way is very low. Throughout the country at times 

 we had heard the building of these cities ascribed 

 to corcubados, or hunchbacks, and the unusual low- 

 ness of all the doorways, with the strangeness and 

 desolation of all around, almost gave colour to the 

 most fanciful belief. 



The interior of this building consisted of a sin- 

 gle chamber, twelve feet by seven, having the trian- 

 gular-arched ceiling, and at each end a raised step 

 or divan. The wall and ceiling were stuccoed 

 and covered with paintings, the subjects of which 

 were almost entirely effaced. 



The day ended without our making any advan- 

 ces beyond this immediate neighbourhood, but the 

 next was made memorable by the unexpected dis- 

 covery that this forest-buried city was encompassed 

 by a wall, which had resisted all the elements of 

 destruction at work upon it, and was still erect and 

 in good preservation. Since the beginning of our 

 exploration we had heard of city walls, but all ves- 

 tiges of them elsewhere had been uncertain, and 

 our attempts to trace them unsatisfactory. Young 

 Molas had told us of these, and was on the ground 

 early to guide us to them. We set out without 

 much expectation of any decided result, and, fol- 



