132 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



show more plainly the sense which we entertained 

 of the security of travelling in Yucatan. In Cen- 

 tral America we never dared to take a man into our 

 service without strong recommendations, for he 

 might be a robber or an assassin. These men we 

 had never heard of till they came upon us with their 

 guns. Their manly bearing as hunters inspired 

 confidence, and the only suspicious circumstance 

 was that they were willing to take us without ref- 

 erences ; but we found afterward that they had both 

 known us at Nohcacab. The one whom we en- 

 gaged was named Dimas, and he continued with us 

 until we left the country. 



On the same line, and but a short distance re- 

 moved, though on a lower terrace, is another build- 

 ing, measuring eighty-five feet in front, which is rep- 

 resented in the plate opposite. It had a fresh- 

 ness about it that suggested the idea of something 

 more modern than the others. The whole was cov- 

 ered with a coat of plaster but little broken, and it 

 confirmed us in the opinion we had entertained be- 

 fore, that the fronts of all the buildings had been thus 

 covered. 



Our meeting with these young men was a fortu- 

 nate circumstance for us in exploring these ruins. 

 From boyhood their father had had his rancho on 

 the savanna, and with their guns they had ranged 

 over the whole country for leagues around. 



From the terrace of the first building we saw at 

 a distance a high hill, almost a mountain, on the top 



