The men are very unwilling to dig either in ancient mounds or ruins, as they are afraid of being haunted by the _pishan_ of those whose remains they may disturb; and nothing will induce them to go into caves or burial chambers in mounds. Many curious superstitions hang about the ruins found throughout the country. I was assured by an Indian at Benque Viejo that he had gone on one occasion to the ruins situated near the village, and seeing a pigeon seated on a tree, raised his gun to shoot it; before he could do so, however, the pigeon turned into a cock, and this almost immediately into an eagle, which flew at him, driving him away. There is another superstition about these ruins to the effect that when the first settlers came to Benque Viejo they wished to build the village near the ruins, where the land is very good for growing corn, but were repeatedly driven off by a little old man with a long gray beard. At last, giving up the idea, they contented themselves with the present site for the village. For many years, between the expulsion of the Yucatecans from Bacalar by the Indians and the conquest of the latter by the Mexican troops, some 12 years ago, no Catholic priests were permitted to visit the Santa Cruz country. The Indians, however, appointed priests from among themselves, who carried out, so far as can be ascertained from those of their number who left the territory and settled in British Honduras, a sort of travesty of the rites of the Roman Catholic Church freely interspersed with many of those of their ancient religion, which had survived. The headquarters of this religious cult was the capital, where it centered around what was known as the "Santa Cruz," a plain wooden cross, 2 to 3 feet high, which had probably been removed from some church after the expulsion of the Spaniards. This cross was supposed to be gifted with the power of speech (a belief arising no doubt from the exercise of ventriloquial powers by one of the priests), and acted as a sort of oracle, to whom all matters of importance--civil, military, and religious--were submitted for decision. It need hardly be said that the cross never failed to return an answer to all these questions, in entire conformity with the wishes of the chief.[2]