402 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



voice, but I could see nothing of him or of the build- 

 ing. Follow^ing his path, I found him standing be- 

 fore it ; and vv^hile working our ws,y around it we dis- 

 covered two others near by, almost ' invisible, so 

 dense was the foliage of the trees, but the largest, 

 except the Castillo, and most important of any we 

 had seen. Our plans were all deranged, for we could 

 not go away without drawings of these buildings. 

 We returned to the steps of the Castillo, and sum- 

 moned all hands to council. The men had their 

 back-loads ready, Bernaldo reported two tortillas 

 as the stock of provisions on hand, and the idea 

 of another night in the Castillo struck us with dis- 

 may. We had been so long accustomed to sleep 

 that it had become part of our nature ; a night's rest 

 was indispensable, and we determined to break up 

 and return the next day. 



Before daylight the next morning Albino set off 

 with Molas and the sailors, and by the time Mr. 

 Catherwood arrived on the ground the clearing of 

 the first building w^as made. 



The plate opposite represents the front of this 

 building. It faces the west, measures twenty-seven 

 feet in length and nineteen in depth, and consists 

 of two stories. The exterior had been richly dec- 

 orated, and above the cornice were fragments of rich 

 ornaments in stucco. The lower story has four 

 columns, making five doorways opening into a nar- 

 row corridor, which runs round and encloses on 

 three sides a chamber in the centre. The walls of 



