444 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



last presented. It is, indeed, strange that no mention 

 is made of tiie buildings, but regard must be had to 

 the circumstances of danger and death which sur- 

 rounded the Spaniards, and which were doubtless al- 

 ways uppermost in the minds of the soldiers who 

 formed that disastrous expedition. At all events, it 

 is not more strange than the want of any description 

 of the great buildings of Chichen, and we have the 

 strongest possible proof that no correct inference is 

 to be drawn from the silence of the Spaniards, for 

 in the comparatively minute account of the conquest 

 of Mexico, we find that the Spanish army marched 

 under the very shadow of the great pyramids of 

 Otumba, and yet not the slightest mention whatever 

 is made of their existence. 



I have now finished my journey among ruined 

 cities. I know that it is impossible by any narra- 

 tive to convey to the reader a true idea of the pow- 

 erful and exciting interest of wandering among them, 

 and I have avoided as much as possible all detailed 

 descriptions, but I trust that these pages will serve to 

 give some general idea of the appearance which this 

 country once presented. In our long, irregular, and 

 devious route we have discovered the crumbUng re- 

 mains of forty-four ancient cities, most of them but 

 a short distance apart, though, from the great change 

 that has taken place in the country, and the break- 

 ing up of the old roads, having no direct communica- 

 tion with each other ; with but few exceptions, all 

 were lost, buried, and unknown, never before visited 



