242 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



After this there were some delicate cases among 

 the women of the hacienda ; and these multifarious 

 occupations consumed the whole of the morning, 

 which we had intended to devote to Mr. Camer- 

 den and the ruins. It was a cold and cheerless 

 day ; the Norther was increasing in force, and he 

 saw malaria and sickness all around him. In the 

 afternoon he left us to return to New- York by the 

 same vessel which had brought us out. Unfortu- 

 nately, he carried away with him the seeds of a 

 dangerous illness, from which he did not recover 

 in many months. 



The next day Don Simon left us, and we were 

 again alone. Sickness was increasing on the haci- 

 enda, and two days afterward we received notice 

 that Doctor Cabot's leg patient was ill with fever, 

 and also that a woman had died that day of the 

 same disease, and was to be buried the next morn- 

 ing. We ordered horses to be sent up to the ru- 

 ins, and early in the morning Dr. Cabot and myself 

 rode to the hacienda, he to visit his patient, and I 

 to attend the funeral, in the expectation that such 

 an event, on a retired hacienda, without any priest 

 or religious ceremonies, would disclose some usage 

 or custom illustrative of the ancient Indian charac- 

 ter. Leaving my horse in the cattle-yard, in com- 

 pany with the mayoral I walked to the campo santo. 

 This was a clearing in the woods at a short dis- 

 tance from the house, square, and enclosed by a 

 rude stone fence. It had been consecrated with 



