62 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



There were other vestiges and mounds, all, how^- 

 ever, in a rainous condition. The last day, w^hile 

 Mr. Catherwood was finishing at Labna, I rode 

 with Bernaldo to the hacienda of Tabi, two leagues 

 distant, which, and those of Xcanchakan, already 

 presented in these pages, and Vayalke, belonging to 

 the Senora Joaquina Peon, where we stopped on our 

 first visit to Uxmal, were distinguished as the three 

 finest in Yucatan. Before the gate were some no- 

 ble seybo trees, and near it a tiendicita, or small 

 shop, supplied with articles adapted to the wants of 

 the Indians appertaining to the hacienda. The 

 great yard was lined with buildings, among which 

 were the church and an enclosure for a bull- 

 fight, prepared for a festival which was to commence 

 the next day. In the wall of the hacienda were 

 sculptured ornaments from the ruins of ancien: 

 buildings. At the foot of the steps was a double- 

 headed eagle, well carved, holding in his ^laws a 

 sort of sceptre, and underneath were the figures of 

 two tigers four feet high. In the back of the house 

 was a projecting stone figure, with its mouth open, 

 an uncomfortable expression of face, arms akimbo, 

 and hands pressing the sides, as if in a qualmish 

 state. It was used as a water-spout, and a stream 

 was pouring out of the mouth. The buildings from 

 which these stones were taken were near the haci- 

 enda, but were mere piles of ruins. They had fur- 

 nished materials for the construction of the church, 

 walls, and all the edifices on the hacienda. 



