GREAT NUMBER OF THESE CHAMBERS. 231 



the stones, let down upon me a shower of dirt, and 

 gave me such a severe rasping that I had no dispo- 

 sition at that time to descend another. In fact, they 

 too were tired out, and it was a business in which, 

 on our own account at least, it would not do to 

 overtask them. 



We were extremely disappointed in not finding 

 any more vases or relics of any kind. We could 

 not account for the one found in the chamber under 

 the terrace, and were obliged to suppose that it had 

 been thrown in or got there by accident. 



These subterraneous chambers are scattered over 

 the whole ground covered by the ruined city. 

 There was one in the cattle-yard before the ha- 

 cienda, and the Indians were constantly discovering 

 them at greater distances. Dr. Cabot found them 

 continually in his hunting excursions, and once, in 

 breaking through bushes in search of a bird, fell into 

 one, and narrowly escaped a serious injury ; indeed, 

 there were so many of them, and in places where 

 they were so little to be expected, that they made 

 rambling out of the cleared paths dangerous, and to 

 the last day of our visit we were constantly finding 

 new ones. 



That they were constructed for some specific 

 purpose, had some definite object, and that that ob- 

 ject was uniform, there was no doubt, but what it 

 was, in our ignorance of the habits of the people, it 

 was difficult to say. Don Simon thought that the 

 cement was not hard enough to hold water, and 



