RANCHO OF TANCAR. 



385 



At daylight we were again under way. We pass- 

 ed three more square buildings ; but as the coast was 

 rocky we could not land without endangering the 

 safety of our precious canoa ; and far off, on a high 

 cliff, stood the Castillo of Tuloom, the extreme point 

 at which we were aiming. At twelve o'clock we 

 turned a point, and came upon a long, sandy beach, 

 forming a bay, at the head of which was a small col- 

 lection of huts, composing the rancho of Tancar. 

 The entrance was difficult, being hemmed in by 

 sunken reefs and rocks. Two women were stand- 

 ing in the doorway of one of the huts, except the 

 old fisherman the only persons we had seen along 

 this desolate coast. 



It was this point which we expected to reach by 

 land direct from Chemax. The reader will see the 

 ch'cuit it has cost us to make it, but the first glance 

 satisfied us of our good fortune in not going to it di- 

 rect, for we saw the frame of the sloop we had heard 

 of still on the stocks, which probably is not yet fin- 

 ished. We should not have been able to get a ca- 

 noa, and should have been obliged to return by the 

 same road. The moment the stone was thrown out 

 we were in the water, wading ashore. The sun 

 was intensely hot, and the sand burning. In front 

 of the principal hut, beside the sloop, was a thatched 

 arbour to protect the carpenter who occasionally 

 worked upon it. Near by was a ruined hut, which 

 we had cleared out, and for the third time took up 



Vol. IL— C o c 33 



