VISIT TO THE RUINS OF SCHOOLHOKE. 133 



of which rose a wooded elevation surrounding an 

 ancient building. There was something extraordi- 

 nary in its position, but the young men told us it 

 was entirely ruined, and, although it was then but 

 eleven o'clock, if we attempted to go to it, we could 

 not return till after dark. They told us, also, of oth- 

 ers at the distance of half a league, more extensive, 

 and some of which, they said, were, in finish and 

 preservation, equal to these. 



At one o'clock Doctor Cabot and myself, under 

 the guidance of Dimas, set out to look for them. 

 It was desperately hot. We passed several huts, 

 and at one of them asked for some water ; but it 

 was so full of insects that we could barely taste it. 

 Dimas led us to the hut of his mother, and gave us 

 some from a vessel in which the insects had settled 

 to the bottom. 



Beyond this we ascended the spur of a high hill, 

 and coming down into a thickly-wooded valley, af- 

 ter the longest half league we ever walked, we saw 

 through the trees a large stone structure. On reach- 

 ing it, and climbing over a broken terrace, we came 

 to a large mound faced on all sides with stone, which 

 we ascended, and crossing over the top, looked down 

 upon an overgrown area, having on each side a 

 range of ruined buildings, with their white facades 

 peering through the trees ; and beyond, at a distance, 

 and seemingly inaccessible, was the high hill with 

 the ruins on the top, which we had seen from the 

 terrace of the first building. Hills rose around us 



12 



