28 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



occasion of his only visit to this part of his curacy, 

 passed a great portion of his time among them. 



It was strange and almost incredible that, with 

 these extraordinary monuments before their eyes, 

 the Indians never bestowed upon them one passing 

 thought. The question, who built them? never by 

 any accident crossed their minds. The great name 

 of Montezuma, which had gone beyond them to the 

 Indians of Honduras, had never reached their ears, 

 and to all our questions we received the same dull 

 answer which first met us at Copan, " Quien sabe f 

 *' Who knows 1" They had the same superstitious 

 feelings as the Indians of Uxmal ; they believed 

 that the ancient buildings were haunted, and, as in 

 the remote region of Santa Cruz del Quiche, they 

 said that on Good Friday of every year music was 

 heard sounding among the ruins. 



There was but one thing connected with the old 

 city that interested them at all, and that was the 

 subject of a well. They supposed that somewhere 

 among these ruins, overgrown and lost, existed the 

 fountain which had supplied the ancient inhabitants 

 with water; and, believing that by the use of our 

 instruments its site could be discovered, they offered 

 to cut down all the trees throughout the whole re- 

 gion covered by the ruins. 



