New-York daily tribune., 1843-03-30
OFFICE NO. 16o NAssAU-sTREET
NEw-YORK, THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 80, Isas.

round the ring, and they held back. evidently
afraid to attack him. The spectators showereo
upon them the opprobrious name of Cobcrdes
Co5ardes.' 'Cowerds! Cowards. The dragon
enforced obedience to their voice, and forlifyins
themselves with strong draught Of aqua ardi
ente, they once more faced the BULL poised then
spears before him. but with fain. hearts and tremb
ling hands, and finally, without single thrust
amid the contemptuous shouts of the crowd, fel
back and left the bull master of the field.
q Others were let in, and II was almost dark
when the last fight ended. With the last bull the
ring was opened to the boys, who. amid roars Of
laughter, pulled hauled, and hustled him I'LL he
could hardly stand, and amid the solemn tones OF
the Vesper Bell, the bull-hght honor of San Cris
toval ended
The adventurous travellers seem to have en-
braced among the objects of their vista great va
riesy of purposes for not satisfied with the e1-
ploration of ruins the qualification of their
own curiosity by knowledge of the manners and
customs Of the people among whom they wander
ed we find them in the fifth chapter doing ,hriy-
ing business, (tbriving in amount though the pre-
fits were nil, in taking daguerreotype portraits,
atwhich they succeeded admirably in astonishing
the natves and won for themselves the admira-
ton and good will of the whole population. Their
next attempt in operating for strabisnus, with
which the people seemed to be very generally af-
fected. After one or two operations in which the
sight of bscos, as those afflicted with squirting
ara called, was completely rectifcd, their fame
spread rapidly and their were absolutely
ard continually thronged with patients and their
friends. One of their operations is thus descri-
bed -
The first who presented himself was stout
i6d about nineteen twenty, whom we had never
seen or heard of before. Who he was or where
he came from we did not know. but he was a
DISCO of the worst kind, and seemed able.bodied
enough to undergo any thing in the way of surge.
ry. AS soon as the doctor began TO cut the mus
Gle, however, our strapping patient gave signs Of
restlessncss and all ct once with an actual bel
low, he jerked his head On one side, carried away
the doctors hook, and shut his eye upon it with a
sort Of lockjaw grip, as if determined it should
never be drawn out. As it was, there he sat with
the bandage slipped above eye and the other
closed upon the hook, the handle of which stood
out straight. Probably at that moment ne would
have beer willing TO sacrifice pride of personal aP-
pearance, keep his squint and go through life
with his eye shut, the hook in it, and the handle
sticking out, but the instrument was too valuable
TO be lost. Ard ii was interesting and instructive
to Rotice the difference between the eouanmity of
one who had hook in his eye and that of lockers
on who had All the spectators upbraided
him with his cowardicc and want of heart and at
ter round Of reproof 10 which he could make no
answer, he opened his eye and let out the hook
But he had made bad business of it. A few Sc
conds longer, and the operation would have been
completed. AS the muscle wa, again lifted under
the knife, ] thought saw : ea7a in tue eye-ball
that gave token Of another plunge of the head but
the lad was fairly brow beaten into quiet, and to
the great satisfaction of all, wtk double share OF
blackness and blood and with very little symPa-
thy from any one, but with his eye straight, he de-
scenGed from the table. Outside he was received
with loud shout by the boys, and we never heard
of him again.
But we must csss oyer these Introductory pages
and speak more definitely of the ruins discovered
and described. The first which he reached W
those at Mayapan. They cover great pia
upon the size where, according to historical re-
cord, once stood the capital of the whole country
surrounded by strong wall, the remains of which
nav still be traced through the woods. Halt-hn-
red mounds are seen scattered oTeT surface, the
edihces that once surmounted them having with q
single exception entirely disappeared. Gne OF
these mounds was sixty feet high and one hundred
feet square at the base, built IN solid rom the
slain. with d broad staircase on each OF It's tour
sides and plain stone platform fifteen feet square
at the summit. Around its base for great dis
N car
figures of men and beasts, and the hideous shapes
of demons Upon a ruined mound some thirty
feet in hight was still found standing circular
building some twenty-five ieet in hight, with cor
nioes. double columns and the remains of paintings
upon its walls. The whole peninsula of iucalan
was known to the natives at the time Of the Span
sh invasion b. the name Of Maya, and this too
was the name of the language which they used
The capital city of Mayapan, of which these are
the ruins is said to have been destroyed by the re-
beious vassals nearly hundred years before the
arrival of the Spsniards. Striking atfinities ol
the Maya language with those of Asia have been
discovered and pointed out by Merriam in his work
on the subject.
The travellers next proceeded to Uxrnal, which
they had visited before bat imperfect y explored
Il was here that their nbors on their former Vlsi'
were SO abruptly terminated. Mr.. CATHERwooD
has given great number of illustrations to make
perfectly clear the situation, size, appearance NC
of these most interesting remains, which were
among the most striking aad important observed
in the whole peninsula. The first ruin presented
is of building standing upon three great terraces
and three hundred and tpenty-trco feet IN length
Il i, constructed wholly of stone and prosnsely or
namsnted with elaborate sculpture. Over the