| 234 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
the yard, and thence into the kitchen, when a wom-
an engaged in cooking ran out, leaving her vessels
boiling over the fire. I superintended her cooking,
and dried my damp clothes, determined to avoid
having anything to do with the operation ; but, for-
tunately for me and Mr. Catherwood's knife, Doctor
Cabot considered that it was not advisable to am-
putate. It was ten days since the accident hap-
pened, and the wound seemed to be healing. Doc-
tor Cabot ascribed the lad's preservation to the sound
and healthy state of the blood, arising from the sim-
ple diet of the Indian.
At this place we determined to separate ; Mr.
Catherwood to go on direct to Peto, a day and a
half's journey distant, and lie by a few days to re-
cruit, while Doctor Cabot and I made a retrograde
and circuitous movement to the village of Mani.
While speaking of our intention, a by-stander, Don
Joaquin Sais, a gentleman of the village, told us
of ruins on his hacienda of Saccacal, eight leagues
distant by a milpa road, and said that if we would
wait a day, he would accompany us to visit them;
but as we could not, he gave us a letter to the ma-
jor domo.
Early the next morning Doctor Cabot and I set
out with Albino and a single Indian, the latter car-
rying a petaquilla and hammocks. We left the vil-
lage by the running stream, and rode for some time
along a deep gully made by the great body of water
which rushes through it in the rainy season. At
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