116 
GUATEMALA. 
a large sancl-box tree (Hum crepitans) seven and a half 
feet in circumference had grown up in the very midst of 
the paved approach, tearing up the stone floor with its 
slow, irresistible power, and another large tree of the 
fig family was persistently fingering the cracks in the 
ancient wall. The tiles used in the arches were thin like 
those in old Roman structures, and the mortar was gen¬ 
erally harder than the terra-cotta. Frank sketched the 
bridge, and we followed in thought the river until it 
became the Rio de la Pasion, then as the Usumacinta 
(the ancient Rio de los Lacandones) flowing through the 
richest land and most genial climate, by the ruins of the 
ancient cities of the earliest men, and among the vil¬ 
lages of the unconcpiered tribes to the shores of that 
Bay of Campeachy where Votan gave his laws to the 
children of the forest. 
Even in this retired spot we became an attraction to 
the unemployed on this Sunday afternoon ; and we slowly 
sauntered back to the cabildo, measuring on our way the 
trunk of a dead ceiba-tree forty feet in circumference 
above the buttresses. A game of ball was going on under 
the tree in the Plaza. Wooden balls five inches in di¬ 
ameter, not very round, were shoved about with paddles. 
In the evening two young men, at the request of the co- 
mandante, played on the flute and guitar for us a number 
of Spanish airs. 
In all these towns the carcel, or prison, is simply a room 
in the cabildo with grated windows and door, and separate 
rooms are often, but not always, provided for women. We 
saw but few occupants in the prisons of the towns we 
passed through. 
We made exceedingly comfortable beds of the public 
