A LABYRINTH. 



213 



the indifference of the people of all classes to the an- 

 tiquities of the country, that up to the time of my 

 arrival at the door, this Laberinto had never been 

 examined. My friend Don Lorenzo Peon would 

 give me every facility for exploring it except joining 

 me himself. Several persons had penetrated to some 

 distance with a string held outside, but had turned 

 back, and the universal belief was, that it contained 

 passages without number and without end. 



Under these circumstances, I certainly felt some 

 degree of excitement as I stood in the doorway. 

 The very name called up those stupendous works 

 in Crete and on the shores of the Mceritic Lake 

 which are now almost discredited as fabulous. 



My retinue consisted of eight men, who consid- 

 ered themselves in my employ, besides three or four 

 supernumeraries, and all together formed a crowd 

 around the door. Except the mayoral of Uxmal, I 

 had never seen one of them before, and as I consid- 

 ered it important to have a reliable man outside, 1 

 stationed him at the door with a ball of twine. I 

 tied one end round my left wrist, and told one of 

 the men to light a torch and follow me, but he re- 

 fused absolutely, and all the rest, one after the oth- 

 er, did the same. They were all ready enough to 

 hold the string; and I was curious to know, and 

 had a conference with them on the interesting point, 

 whether they expected any pay for their services in 

 standing out of doors. One expected pay for show- 

 ing me the place, others for carrying water, another 



