MOUNDS OF RUINS. 



199 



both considerably heated, we reached the hacienda 

 of Sijoh, two leagues distant. 



This hacienda belonged to a brother of Don Si- 

 mon, then resident in Vera Cruz, and was under the 

 latter s charge. Here my guide passed me over into 

 the hands of an Indian, and rode back as fast as he 

 could to the fair. The Indian mounted another 

 horse, and, continuing a short distance on the same 

 road through the lands of the hacienda, we turned 

 off to the right, and in five minutes saw in the 

 woods to our left, near the road, a high mound of 

 ruins of that distinctive character once so strange, 

 but now so familiar to me, proclaiming the exist- 

 ence of another unknown, nameless, desolate, and 

 ruined city. 



We continued on to another mound nearer than 

 the first, where we dismounted and tied our horses 

 to the bushes. This mound was a solid mass of 

 masonry, about thirty feet high, and nearly square. 

 The stones were large, one at the corner measuring 

 six feet in length by three in width, and the sides 

 were covered with thorns and briers. On the south 

 side was a range of steps still in good condition, 

 each fifteen inches high, and in general three feet 

 long. On the other sides the stones rose in a py- 

 ramidal form, but without steps. On the top was a 

 stone building, with its wall as high as the cornice 

 standing. Above this the facade had fallen, but the 

 mass of stone and mortar which formed the roof re- 

 mained, and within the apartment was precisely 



