170 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



CHAPTER X. 



Departure from Labphak. — Sugar Ranchos. — Hacienda of Jalasac. 

 — Cultivation of Sugar. — Another Rancho.— Its neat Appear- 

 ance. — Senor Trego's Establishment. — A Well. — Seybo Trees. 

 — Journey resumed. — Village of Iturbide. — Its Settlement and 

 rapid Growth. — An Acquaintance. — Oppressive Attentions. — 

 Lunar Rainbov^. — Appearance of the Village. — Mound of Ru- 

 ins. — Visit to the Ruins of Zibilnocac. — A Well. — A long Edi- 

 fice — Lazy Escort. — An anxious Host.— Return to the Village. 

 — A prosperous Emigrant. — A Dinner. — Medical Practice. — De- 

 plorable Condition of the Country in regard to Medical Aid. — 

 Second Visit to the Ruins. — Front of an Edifice. — Square Struct- 

 ures. — Interesting Painting. — An ancient Well. — Mounds.— 

 Vestiges of a great City. 



On Thursday, the twenty- fourth of February, we 

 broke up and left the ruins. A narrow path brought 

 us out into the camino real, along which we passed 

 several small ranchos of sugar-cane. At eleven 

 o'clock we reached the hacienda of Jalasac, the 

 appearance of which, after a few days' burial in the 

 woods, was most attractive and inviting ; and here 

 we ventured to ask for water for our horses. The 

 master made us dismount, sent our horses to an 

 aguada, and had some oranges picked from the tree, 

 sliced, and sprinkled with sugar, for ourselves. He 

 told us that his establishment was nothing compared 

 with Senor Trego's, a league distant, whom, he said, 

 we, of course, knew, and wou]jd doubtless stop with 



