Villages were scattered thickly, and the forest was restricted to patches, here and there, the greater portion of the land being under cultivation.
Directly in front rose the lofty buildings and temples of a town of considerable size.

Seen through the clear mountain air it seemed but three or four miles away, and Roger had difficulty in believing the merchants, when they assured him that it was fully twenty.

This was Tepeaca.
The slaves, wearied as they were, quickened in their pace; and in two hours they emerged from the mountain gorges onto the temperate plateau.

Here they halted for some hours near a post house, a courier being sent on to Tepeaca, to inform the king's envoys that they had arrived thus far; and to ask whether they should proceed at noon, when the slaves had rested, or make their entry into the town in the morning.
In a little over four hours the answer was received.

The merchants were directed to wait where they were until three hours after noon, then to move forward until they arrived within eight miles of the town, and then to halt for the night, and to start again at sunrise next morning.
Roger was as glad as were the slaves that he had not another fifteen miles' march before him, for the journey had been a most fatiguing one.