240 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



plied for an Indian to carry our hammocks, which 

 the cacique undertook to provide. 



On the opposite side of the square was a thatch- 

 ed church, the bell of which was tolling for morning 

 mass, and before the door was a group of men, sur- 

 rounding a portly old gentleman in a round jacket, 

 who I knew must be the padre. They all confirm- 

 ed the accounts we had received at the casa real, 

 that there were no ruins ; but the cura, enforcing 

 his words with an Ave Maria, said that at Ticum, 

 the head of his curacy, there were bastante, or 

 enough of them. He intended to return immedi- 

 ately after mass, and wanted us to go with him to 

 see them, and write a description of them. I felt a 

 strong disposition to do so, if it was only to pass a 

 day with him at the convent ; but, on inquiring, I 

 learned that the " old walls" were entirely in ruins; 

 they had furnished materials for that church and 

 convent, and all the stone houses of the village. 



While this was going on at the door of the 

 church, an Indian sexton was pulling lustily at the 

 bell-rope, ringing for mass, and, as if indignant that 

 his warning was not attended to, he made it so 

 deafening that it was really a labour for us to hear 

 each other. The cura seemed in no hurry, but 1 

 had some scruples about keeping the coi^tegation 

 waiting, and returned to the casa real. 



Here a scene had just taken place, of which no- 

 thing but the noise of the bell prevented my having 

 some previous knowledge. The cacique had sent 



