126 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



large black ants that it was necessary to step from 

 stone to stone, and avoid touching the ground. 

 Running off lengthwise from this terrace was a small 

 building, which the Indian pointed out as contain- 

 ing the altar and copal. Passing the first door, he 

 went on to the second, put his head in cautiously, 

 and, without entering, drew back. Going in, I found 

 an apartment differing in nothing from the most or- 

 dinary we had seen in the country. For some time 

 I could not get the Indian to enter, and when he did, 

 standing in the doorway, and looking around cau- 

 tiously, he waved his finger horizontally, according 

 to the manner of the Indians, to indicate that there 

 was nothing. Fortunately, however, I learned that 

 the road we had left led to the ruins of Chun- 

 huhu ; and it shows the difficulty I had in ascertain- 

 ing the juxtaposition of places, that though this was 

 one of the places which I intended to visit, until 

 this man mentioned it I had not been able to learn 

 that it lay in the same neighbourhood. I determin- 

 ed at once to continue on, and it was what I saw on 

 that occasion that now put our whole body in mo- 

 tion in this direction. 



To return. It was late in the afternoon when we 

 reached the savanna of Chunhuhu, and rode up to 

 the hut at which I had tied my horse on my former 

 visit. 



The hut was built of upright poles, had a steep 

 projecting roof thatched with palm leaves, and the 

 sides protected by the same material ; as we stopped 



