Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/154

146 often nearly choked by the fumes, odoriferous though they were. This was not done, probably, to kill any germ of infectious disease which the stranger might have about him, but as a token of respect. The soldiers of Cortes were at first much flattered, because they fancied themselves saluted as gods by this token of homage. In the churches, at the present day, native gums are burned in the censers. This discovery, on the coast of

Yucatan and British Honduras, of braseros, or incense burners, confirms the truth of those statements of the historians.

The northern and eastern shores, especially the latter, are dotted with ruins; a cordon of ruined villages, cities, temples, and palaces is drawn along the coast. None more interesting has been described than the city of Tulum, which Stephens identifies, with much show of reason in his support, with the