At Tabi, a few leagues distant, is a heap of ruins, from which material had been taken for the construction of a modern church, and many sculptured fragments had been inserted in the walls of the hacienda buildings. A stream of water was pouring from the open mouth of a stone idol, possibly worshiped by the ancient inhabitants; "to such base uses," etc. A cave near by was the subject of much marvelous report, but its exploration led to nothing in an antiquarian point of view.[V-65]
At Kewick, seven or eight miles southward of Labná, a large space is strewn with the remains of a ruined city, the casa real itself being built on the terrace of an ancient mound. One single stone, however, among these ruins demands the attention of the reader, familiar as he now is with the general features of ancient Maya art. This stone is one of those which compose the top layer, joining the sides of the ceiling in one of the apartments. Singled out for some inexplicable reason from its fellows, it bore a painting in bright colors, chiefly red and green, representing a grotesquely adorned human form surrounded by a line of hieroglyphics. The painting measured eighteen by thirty inches and was taken out from its place by Mr Stephens for the purpose of removal, but proved too heavy for that purpose. Two fronts were sketched by Mr Catherwood at Kewick; one had a line of pillars separated by diamond-shaped ornaments on each side of the doorway; the other was decorated also with a line of pillars, or pilasters, standing close together, as on the Casa de Tortugas at Uxmal.[V-66]
Xul, a modern village near by, stands also on the site of an aboriginal town, and the cura's residence is built of material from an ancient mound, many sculptured stones occupying prominent places in the walls; the church moreover contains sixteen columns from the neighboring ruins of Nohcacab. Two leagues from Xul where some ruins were seen, two apartments had red paintings on the plastered walls and ceilings. A row of legs, suggesting a procession, heads decorated with plumes, and human figures standing on their hands, all well-drawn and natural to the life, were still visible, and interesting even in their mutilated state. The rancho buildings at Nohcacab--a second place of the same name as the one already mentioned towards Uxmal--are also decorated with relics from the 'old walls,' but nothing of interest was seen in connection with the ruins themselves, except one room in which the ceiling formed an acute angle at the top instead of being united by a layer of horizontal stones as in other places.[V-67]