HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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night, double the number of them came by night to see us and to sleep
there, besides those who came first, and even those who had gone away
satisfied with seeing us, did not fail to come back. In this way we
lived with the annoyance which can be imagined, since we were not able
to attend to our needs, without their following us; and neither the
prohibition of the King nor our own scolding were sufficient to hinder
their excessive curiosity, the only attention which they paid to either
being that they all laughed at it. Their tediousness was such, that if
we sat down, they all sat down next to us, surrounding us; and then
some on one side and others on the other would touch us from top to
toe, not excepting (if we gave them the chance) the most hidden parts
of a man; if we stopped or walked on, it was all the same, so that, in
order to be able to carry on the divine service without that annoyance,
we contrived the plan that they should seat themselves in a row around
the said temple on the benches of stone and lime which were there, and
we, walking up and down in the middle, carried on the divine service,
it all being a matter of amusement for them,--not only the movement of