ASTONISHMENT OF THE INDIANS. 373 



that men with strange faces, and a language they 

 could not understand, had come among them to 

 disinter their ruined cities ; and, simple as their 

 ancestors when the Spaniards first came among 

 them, they said that the end of the world was nigh. 



It was late the next day when we reached the 

 ruins. We could not set out before the Indians, 

 for they might disappoint us altogether, and we 

 could do nothing until they came, but, once on the 

 ground, we soon had them at work. On both sides 

 we watched each other closely, though from some- 

 what different motives : they from utter inability to 

 comprehend our plans and purposes, and we from 

 the fear that we should get no work out of them. 

 If one of us spoke, they all stopped to listen ; if we 

 moved, they stopped to gaze upon us. Mr. Cather- 

 wood's drawing materials, tripod, sextant, and com- 

 pass were very suspicious, and occasionally Doctor 

 Cabot filled up the measure of their astonishment 

 by bringing down a bird as it flew through the air. 

 By the time they were fairly broken in to know 

 what they had to do, it was necessary to return to 

 the village. 



The same labour was repeated the next day with 

 a new set of men ; but, by continual supervision and 

 urging, we managed to get considerable work done. 

 Albino was a valuable auxiliary; indeed, without 

 him I could hardly have got on at all. We had 

 not fairly discovered his intelligence until we left 

 Uxmal. There all had a beaten track to move in, 



32 



