232 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



hence that they were not intended as cisterns or 

 reservoirs, but for granaries or store-houses of maize, 

 which, from our earliest knowledge of the abori- 

 gines down to the present day, has been the staff of 

 life to the inhabitants. In this opinion, however, 

 we did not concur, and from what we saw after- 

 ward, believe that they were intended as cisterns, 

 and had furnished, in part at least, a supply of wa- 

 ter to the people of the ruined city. 



We returned to our apartments to dine, and in the 

 afternoon accompanied Don Simon to see the har- 

 vest of the maize crop. The great field in front of 

 the Casa del Gobernador was planted with corn, 

 and on the way we learned a fact which may be 

 interesting to agriculturists in the neighbourhood 

 of those numerous cities throughout our country 

 which, being of premature growth, are destined to 

 become ruins. The debris of ruined cities fertil- 

 ize and enrich land. Don Simon told us that the 

 ground about Uxmal was excellent for milpas or 

 corn-fields. He had never had a better crop of 

 maize than that of the last year ; indeed, it was so 

 good that he had planted a part of the same land a 

 second time, which is a thing unprecedented under 

 their system of agriculture ; and Don Simon had 

 another practical view of the value of these ruins, 

 which would have done for the meridian of our own 

 city. Pointing to the great buildings, he said that 

 if he had Uxmal on the banks of the Mississippi, it 

 would be an immense fortune, for there was stone 



