250 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



might never have know^n, but for the telltale memo- 

 rials at the door of the casa real. 



At a quarter before three we resumed our jour- 

 ney. The sun was still very hot; the road was 

 straight, stony, and uninteresting, a great part of 

 the way through overgrown milpas. At half past 

 five we reached Mani, again finding over the door 

 and along the sides of the casa real sculptured 

 stones, some of them of new and curious designs ; 

 in one compartment was a seated figure, with what 

 might seem a crown and sceptre, and the figures 

 of the sun and moon on either side of his head, 

 curious and interesting in themselves, independent 

 of the admonition that we were again on the site 

 of an aboriginal city. 



In all our journey through this country there 

 were no associations. Day after day we rode into 

 places unknown beyond the boundaries of Yucatan, 

 with no history attached to them, and touching no 

 chord of feeling. Mani, however, rises above the 

 rest, and, compared with the profound obscurity or 

 the dim twilight in which other places are envel- 

 oped, its history is plainly written. 



When the haughty caciques of Maya rebelled 

 against the supreme lord, and destroyed the city of 

 Mayapan, the reigning monarch was left with only 

 the territory of Mani, the people of which had not 

 joined in the rebellion. Here, reduced in power 

 to the level of the other caciques, the race of the 



