HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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trees there were _Chuis_, which are like large edible thistles, the
leaves of which preserve the water from the dew and rains for a long
time, and by tapping them in the stem, the water which they have
preserved comes out, although it is dirty and bad smelling; but the
thirst we felt was more so. These same plants served us for food, by
eating the stems of each leaf, something like two fingers of white that
they have, since that part is the most tender, and the rest is very
bitter and hard. In the same way we used to find in the said
_akalchees_ some roots of trees to gnaw, so that, as the proverb says,
'Afflictions with bread are of less account,' we did not feel the sores
which those cutting grasses had caused us, as I have said, in exchange
for what we found there of food and drink."


Some Hills are Reached. "These three days of _akalchees_ having passed,
there followed three other days of hills and very high ridges, so that
we inevitably had to pass them, since they lay in all four directions.