VISIT TO THE RUINS* 



415 



was obliged to give him up. Don Vicente could not 

 get hold of him, and the fishermen carried him off 

 to Yalahao, where, finding himself out of the actual 

 grasp of any of them, he set up for himself, and by 

 the first opportunity slipped off in a canoa for Cam- 

 peachy, since which he had never been heard of. 



Early in the morning, under the guidance of two 

 of the fishermen, w^e set out to visit the ruins. The 

 island of Mugeres is between four and five miles 

 long, half a mile wide, and four miles distant from 

 the mainland. The ruins were at the north end. 

 For a short distance we kept along the shore, and 

 then struck into a path cut straight across the isl- 

 and. About half way across w e came to a santa 

 cruz, or holy cross, set up by the fishermen, at 

 which place we heard distinctly the sound of the 

 breakers on the opposite shore. To the right a 

 faint track was perceptible, which soon disappeared 

 altogether ; but our guides knew the direction, and, 

 cutting a way with the machete, w^e came out upon 

 a high, rocky, perpendicular cliff, which commanded 

 an immense expanse of ocean, and against which 

 the waves, roused by the storm of the night before, 

 were dashing grandly. We followed along the 

 brink of the cliff and around the edges of great per- 

 pendicular chasms, the ground being bare of trees 

 and covered with a scrubby plant, called the uba, 

 with gnarled roots spreading like the branches of 

 a grape-vine. At the point terminating the island, 

 standing boldly upon the sea, was the lonely edifice 



