A MYSTERIOUS WELL. 



349 



a loss how to make our arrangements for exploring 

 the well. Not a white man in the place had ever 

 entered it, though several had looked in at the mouth, 

 who said that the wind had taken away their breath, 

 and they had not ventured to go in. Its fame rest- 

 ed entirely upon the accounts of the Indians, which, 

 coming to us through interpreters, were very confu- 

 sed. By the active kindness of the padrecito and 

 his brother, the new alcalde Segunda, two men were 

 brought to us who were considered most familiar 

 with the place, and they said that it would be im- 

 possible to enter it except by employing several men 

 one or two days in making ladders, and, at all events, 

 they said it would be useless to attempt the descent 

 after the sun had crossed the meridian ; and to this 

 all our friends and counsellors, who knew nothing 

 about it, assented. Knowing, however, their dila- 

 tory manner of doing business, we engaged them to 

 be on the ground at daylight. In the mean time w^e 

 got together all the spare ropes in the village, inclu- 

 ding one from the noria, and at eight o'clock the 

 next morning we set out. 



For a league we followed the camino real, at 

 which distance we saw a little opening on the left, 

 where one of our Indians was waiting for us. Fol- 

 lowing him by a narrow path just opened, we again 

 found ourselves among ruins, and soon reached the 

 foot of the high mound which towered above the 

 plain, itself conspicuous from the House of the 

 Dwarf at Uxmal, and which is represented in the 



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