200 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



like the interior of the buildings at Uxmal, having 

 the same distinctive arch. There were no remains 

 of sculpture, but the base of the mound was encum- 

 bered with fallen stones, among which were some 

 about three feet long, dug out so as to form a sort of 

 trough, the same as we had seen at Uxmal, where 

 they were called pilas or fountains. 



Leaving this, we returned through the woods to 

 the mound we had first seen. This was perhaps 

 sixty feet high, and was a mere mass of fallen stone. 

 Whatever it might have been, its features were en- 

 tirely lost, and but for the structure I had just seen, 

 and the waste of ruins in other parts of the country, 

 it might have seemed doubtful whether it had ever 

 been formed according to any plan or rules of art. 

 The mass of stone was so solid that no vegetation 

 could take root upon it; its sides were bare and 

 bleached, and the pieces, on being disturbed, slid 

 down with a metallic sound like the ringing of iron. 

 In climbing up I received a blow from a sliding stone, 

 which nearly carried me back to the bottom, for the 

 moment completely disabled me, and from which I 

 did not entirely recover until some time afterward. 



From the top of this mound I saw two others of 

 nearly the same height, and, taking their direction 

 with the compass, I descended and directed my steps 

 toward them. The whole ground was covered with 

 trees and a thick undergrowth of brush and thorn- 

 bushes. My Indian had gone to lead the horses 

 round to another road. I had no machete, and 



