372 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



son of El Norte seemed to have no end ; every day 

 there w^as rain ; the foUage was so thick that the hot 

 sun could not dry the moisture before another rain 

 came, and the whole country was enveloped in a 

 damp, unwholesome atmosphere. Besides, unluck- 

 ily for us, it was a season of great abundance in the 

 village ; the corn crop had been good ; the Indians 

 had plenty to eat, and did not care to work. Al- 

 ready we had found difficulty in hiring them ; it 

 would require constant urging and our continual 

 presence to secure them from day to day. As to 

 getting them to remain with us, it was out of the 

 question. We determined, therefore, to continue 

 our residence at the convent, and go out to the ruins 

 every day. 



Late in the afternoon we returned to the village, 

 and in the evening had a levee of visiters. The 

 sensation we had created in the village had gone 

 on increasing, and the Indians were really indis- 

 posed to work for us at all. The arrival of a stran- 

 ger even from Merida or Campeachy w^as an ex- 

 traordinary event, and no Ingleses had ever been 

 seen there before. The circumstance that we had 

 come to work among the ruins was wonderful, in- 

 comprehensible. Within the memory of the oldest 

 Indians these remains had never been disturbed. 

 The account of the digging up of the bones in San 

 Francisco had reached them, and they had much 

 conversation with each other and with the padre- 

 cito about us. It was a strange thing, they said, 



