| 228 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
part of the dry season, and when this fails the wells
appear, and continue the supply until the rains come
on again.
Leaving this, we continued again upon a plain
Albino had not come up with us, and passing through
one Indian rancho, we came to another, in which
were many paths, and we were at a loss which to
take. The men were all away, and we were obli-
ged to chase the women into their very huts to
ask directions. At the last hut we cornered two,
who were weaving cotton, and came upon them with
our great effort in the Maya language, 'Tush y am
be—" " Is this the way to—" adding Yakatzib, the
name of the rancho at which we were told there
were ruins. We had acquired great facility in asking
this question, but if the answer went beyond " yes"
or " no," or an indication with the hand, as was the
case on this occasion, it was entirely beyond our at-
tainments. The women gave us a very long, and
probably a very civil answer, but we could not un-
derstand a word of it ; and finding it impossible to
bring them to monosyllables, we asked for a draught
of water and rode on.
When we had gone some distance beyond the
rancho, it occurred to us that this might be Yakat-
zib itself, and we turned back. Before reaching
it, however, we turned off into a grove of large or-
ange trees at one side of the road, dismounted, and
tied our horses under the shade to wait for Albino.
The trees were loaded and the ground covered with
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