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By him I was promised seven Indians, with whom to make an excavation in the great mound. I should explain here, that Ɔilam is celebrated for its great aboriginal mound, four hundred feet in length and fifty in height This occupies one side of the great plaza of the town, and towers above the church and principal buildings, which were all built of stone from its ruins. It was visited by Stephens, and carelessly examined by him, a somewhat fanciful sketch of it being given in his second volume on Yucatan. He attached great importance to it as being the centre of a population at the time of the first visit of the Spaniards, quoting Herrera in confirmation that it was then "a fine Town, the Lord whereof was a youth of the Race of the Cheles, then a Christian, and a great Friend to Captain Francis de Montejo, who received and entertained them."

From the summit of this mound the country for leagues around can be seen, and the eye ranges over a vast extent of scrub, with no village in sight but the one about its base. A second mound lies north of this one, running east and west, while this larger and contiguous one has its longer axis north and south. The limits of these great tumuli once greatly exceeded their present area, as dressed stones can be seen in the streets, in