RUINS OF NOHCACAB. 



347 



which these Indian church ministers cooked and 

 Albino and Bernaldo slept. 



It is ascertained by historical accounts, that at 

 the time of the conquest an Indian town existed in 

 this immediate neighbourhood, bearing the name of 

 Nohcacab. This name is compounded of three 

 Maya words, signifying literally the great place of 

 good land ; and from the numerous and extraordi- 

 nary ruins scattered around, there is reason to be- 

 lieve that it was the heart of a rich, and what was 

 once an immensely populous country. In the sub- 

 urbs are numerous and large mounds, grand enough 

 to excite astonishment, but even more fallen and 

 overgrown than those of San Francisco, and, in 

 fact, almost inaccessible. 



The village stands in the same relative position 

 to these ruins that Ticul does to the ruins of San 

 Francisco, and, like that, in my opinion it stands on 

 the offskirts of the old Indian town, or rather it oc- 

 cupies part of the very site, for in the village itself, 

 within the enclosures of some of the Indians, are 

 the remains of mounds exactly like those in the sub- 

 urbs. In making excavations in the plaza, vases 

 and vessels of pottery are continually brought to 

 light, and in the street wall of the house where the 

 padrecito's mother lived is a sculptured head dug up 

 fifteen years ago. 



The whole of this region is retired and compar- 

 atively unknown. The village is without the line 

 of all the present main roads ; it does not lie on the 



