considerable. Fevers are the chief cause of this mortality. Small pox is rare, as vaccination is generally practised by the medical men, (if such they may be called.) There is not, in fact, a single individual in the place, who has the slightest knowledge of medicine; and if an inhabitant be taken ill, nature has to struggle not only with the disease, but with a bad climate and an ignorant quack it need not therefore, excite surprise that she often fails.

There do not appear to be any books whatever in the place, excepting a few mass books, and these are little used. The priest, a sottish being, is generally despised, and the church greatly neglected. The inhabitants appear destitute of all religious feeling. A copy of the Scriptures is probably not to be met with in Gualan, nor are they permitted to be sold or distributed without the notes of the church. There is a very considerable degree of intolerance mixed with this neglect of every thing divine. I had with me a number of the "Ocios," (a periodical published by the Spanish emigrants in London,) which contained a paper in favour of religious toleration. I read a part of it aloud, but was immediately stopped with assurances that it could never be thus in America: they evidently disliked the principle. Yet these are republicans!

The men when dressed "a la Inglesa," of which they are very fond, are in manners and appearance the exact prototypes of English ploughmen at a country fair. A few of the women have some degree of softness and polish in their manners, but generally speaking, they are disgusting.

No provision is made for the education of the people, and the children grow up in ignorance, and oftentimes uncontrolled. Soon after the revolution a schoolmaster was sent from Guatimala, but as he could not get paid by the government, and the people had no disposition to do it, the doors of his establishment were soon closed.

The inhabitants of Gualan are composed of agents employed in the transmission of goods to and from Guatimala, Omoa, and Yzabal; mariners who convey them by the river Motagua, in their pitpans; and agriculturalists, (the Indian population,) who grow wheat and maize. There are also two potteries, which employ about twenty men in the manufacture of red tiles for the floors and roofs of the houses, and a few household utensils. The market is held daily in the plaza, but it is very irregularly supplied.

Near the town flows a river of excellent water, in which the inhabitants are constantly bathing. At the bottom of one of these hills is a very fine spring, at which the servants fill their pitchers every

evening for the succeeding day. It is their general rendezvous about seven in the evening; and to watch them winding up the hill, through the orchards which lead to the fountain, each with her red pitcher on her head, and following one another in a continued line, is quite a primitive scene, and by far the most interesting sight in Gualan.

About a mile from the town are two mines, one of gold, the other of silver, which are said to belong to individuals who have not money to work them. Some attempt must however have been made, as they say they are not of the first quality, and it would be long before they could be made to pay. At length we heard of the arrival of our mules, and joyfully prepared to leave a place which possessed so few attractions.

CHAPTER VII.

San Pablo,-Ampú,-Simplicity of the Inhabitants,-Chimalapa-Sulphureous Springs,Entrance into Guatimala.

1

LEAVING Gualan and passing through two small Indian villages in the route, we came to San Pablo, a town containing about sixty thatched houses, and a neat church. The road from hence to Ampú is tolerably level, but in many parts unshaded, and in these situations, during the hot months the sun darts his rays with a force that makes it almost impossible to enjoy the scenery.

Passing two other villages and descending a very steep barranca or precipice, we entered a narrow defile between two high hills, which appears to form the bed of a considerable stream in the rainy season, but was now quite dry; and chiefly excited notice from the immense number of butterflies which swarmed in it, many of them very large in size, and clothed in every diversity of colour. No inconsiderable number of the 760

kinds which Linnæus has reckoned up, might

have been collected in this spot. The hills on each side are thickly wooded, and to these on our approach they rapidly winged their flight.

From hence passing over a small chain of hills nearly devoid of vegetation, and composed entirely of calcareous earths, we arrived at the little village of Ampú, where for the first time, we observed lands enclosed by hedge rows, and cattle grazing under the eye of their owners.

This place does not lie in the regular route from Gualan to the capital, and is consequently rarely visited by strangers. The whole of the inhabitants soon appeared at the house where we had stopped, the news of the arrival of an "Ingles" and his "Señora," having rapidly spread throughout the neighbourhood. Though exceedingly inquisitive, examining the dress of the lady with the greatest attention, they were very respectful and polite. From my having a few medicines, they at once concluded I was a physician, or "gran medico," and several came to complain of their infirmities. One had rheumatism, another calentura or fever, a third colic. To all of these very simple remedies were offered, and we were loaded with thanks. Towards evening we took tea, and amused ourselves by letting them taste it, which some of them did with strange contortions; while others, with a courtier-like politeness declared it to be "muy bueno," very good, at the same time