234 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



the yard, and thence into the kitchen, when a wom- 

 an engaged in cooking ran out, leaving her vessels 

 boihng over the fire. I superintended her cooking, 

 and dried my damp clothes, determined to avoid 

 having anything to do with the operation ; but, for- 

 tunately for me and Mr. Catherwood's knife, Doctor 

 Cabot considered that it was not advisable to am- 

 putate. It was ten days since the accident hap- 

 pened, and the wound seemed to be healing. Doc- 

 tor Cabot ascribed the lad's preservation to the sound 

 and healthy state of the blood, arising from the sim- 

 ple diet of the Indian. 



At this place we determined to separate ; Mr. 

 Catherwood to go on direct to Peto, a day and a 

 half's journey distant, and lie by a few days to re- 

 cruit, w^hile Doctor Cabot and I made a retrograde 

 and circuitous movement to the village of Mani. 

 While speaking of our intention, a by-stander, Don 

 Joaquin Sais, a gentleman of the village, told us 

 of ruins on his hacienda of Saccacal, eight leagues 

 distant by a milpa road, and said that if we would 

 wait a day, he would accompany us to visit them ; 

 but as we could not, he gave us a letter to the ma- 

 jor domo. 



Early the next morning Doctor Cabot and I set 

 out with Albino and a single Indian, the latter car- 

 rying a petaquilla and hammocks. We left the vil- 

 lage by the running stream, and rode for some time 

 along a deep gully made by the great body of water 

 which rushes through it in the rainy season. At 



