440 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Departure for Merida. — The Road.— Cacalchen. — Hacienda of 

 Ake. — The Ruins. — Great Mound called the Palace. — Immense 

 Staircase. — Grand Approach. — Columns. — No Remains of a 

 Building on the Mound. — Other Mounds. — Interior Chamber. — 

 A Senote. — Rude and Massive Character of these Ruins. — End 

 of Journey among ruined Cities. — Number of Cities discovered. 

 — Of the Builders of the American Cities. — Opinion. — Built by 

 the Ancestors of the present Race of Indians. — Reply to Argu- 

 ments urged against this Belief. — Absence of Tradition. — Un- 

 paralleled Circumstances which attended the Conquest. — Un- 

 scrupulous Policy of the Spaniards. — Want of Tradition not 

 confined to Events before the Conquest. — Nor peculiar to Amer- 

 ican Ruins. — Degeneracy of the Indians. — Insufficiency of 

 these Arguments. — Farewell to Ruins. 



The next morning we started for Merida, with the 

 intention of diverging for the last time to visit the 

 ruins of Ake. The road was one of the best in the 

 country, made for carriages, but rough, stony, and 

 uninteresting. At Cacalchen, five leagues distant, 

 we stopped to dine and procure a guide to Ake. 



In the afternoon we proceeded, taking with us 

 only our hammocks, and leaving Dimas to go on di- 

 rect with the luggage to Merida. Turning off imme- 

 diately from the main road, we entered the woods, 

 and following a narrow path, a little before dark we 

 reached the hacienda of Ake, and for the last time 

 were among the towering and colossal memorials 

 of an aboriginal city. The hacienda was the prop- 



