198 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



sides, and the centre cleared for dancing. Until I 

 saw them collected together, I did not suppose that 

 so many white persons were present at the fair, and, 

 like the men at the gambling-table, and the Indians 

 in the plaza, these seemed to forget that there was 

 any other party present than themselves. In this 

 obliviousness I sympathized, and slipping into an 

 easy arm-chair, from the time of my drag through 

 the mud in the morning I had not so quiet and com- 

 fortable a moment, in which condition I remained 

 until awakened by Don Simon. 



The next day was a repetition of the same 

 scenes. In the afternoon, at the bull-fight, I fell into 

 conversation with a gentleman who sat next to me, 

 and who gave me information of some antiquities in 

 Maxcanu, a village four leagues distant. That I 

 might take this place on my return to Uxmal, it was 

 advisable to visit the ruins on Don Simon's hacienda 

 the next day. Don Simon could not go with me 

 until after the fair, and amid the great concourse of 

 Indians it was difficult to find one who could serve 

 as a guide. 



It was not till eleven o'clock the next day that I 

 was able to set out, and I had as a guide a major 

 domo of another hacienda, who, being, as I imagin- 

 ed, vexed at being obliged to leave the fiesta, and 

 determined to get me off his hands as soon as pos- 

 sible, set out at a swinging trot. The sun was 

 scorching, the road broad, straight, and stony, and 

 without a particle of shade, but in forty minutes, 



