CASA DEL GOBERNADOR.
The next spot of interest was the Casa del Gobernador, which has been alluded to in Fred's account of the view from the top of the pyramid. Our friends went there and found not only an extensive ruin, but what was of practical importance, the servants that had been sent on in advance from Merida with the cart and camping equipments. They had already taken possession of the best rooms in the house, and were clearing them out for occupation.
One room served for kitchen and servants' quarters, and the other for parlor, dining-saloon, dormitory, salon de conversacion, reception-room, library, café, art-gallery, and wardrobe. A flat stone made a very fair table, and other stones served in place of chairs; hammocks were slung by means of ropes from one wall to another, and altogether the place was comfortable enough for a temporary home.
The kitchen apparatus was not extensive, but it sufficed for the preparation of satisfactory meals, doubtless rendered appetizing by the exercise which the strangers were getting in the open air. In the middle of the day it was too hot to wander about a great deal; the time was passed in writing, reading, or possibly in the siesta, for which all tropical and semi-tropical countries are more or less famed.
GROUND-PLAN OF CASA DEL GOBERNADOR.