122 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



considered. On going next morning to inspect our steeds, 

 we heard that one of the three had been stolen or lost during 

 the preceding night, and found that the remaining two looked 

 exceedingly sorry for themselves, and were apparently totally 

 unfit to undertake so long a journey. They would seemingly 

 have afforded valuable studies for veterinary students of nearly 

 every ailment to which horseflesh is heir ; but the owner 

 negatived our fears and promised to find two more by the 

 next day. This he did, a horse and an excellent grey mule 

 who did its work nobly and untiringly. 



At 2 p.m. on the 12th of February Augustin appeared 

 with his animals at the hotel, and we decided to start at 

 once. While the two portmanteaux were being sewn up in 

 palm matting, we provided ourselves each with a hammock 

 an absolutely indispensable article of kit knives, forks, spoons, 

 and biscuits. The landlady supplied us with two bottles of 

 extract of coffee, a bag of sugar, and some bread. At 4.45 

 p.m. we left Acapulco, the mule carrying the portmanteaux 

 and our bedding, the most doubtful-looking horse the light 

 baggage, while the two others, provided with Mexican saddles 

 and bits, had the honour of being our mounts. The road, 

 a mere track, very stony, dusty, and narrow, rose gradually 

 as it left the coast, affording us every now and then pretty 

 views of the town and harbour. Soon after dark we arrived 

 at our halting-place for the night, La Venta, a small village 

 composed of several low huts constructed of sticks and thatched 

 with palm leaves, open in front, where, supported on poles, 

 the roof projected to a considerable distance. Here numerous 

 hammocks were already slung, but we found room for ours also. 

 Presently the old Indian landlady, whose clothing was of the 

 scantiest nature, provided us with sun-dried strips of beef, 

 heated over the fire on wooden skewers, and terribly tough, 

 frijoles (stewed black beans), eggs, and of course tortillas 

 (flat maize cakes). Our horses were, with many others, 

 feeding close by on dry maize stalks, their only food with the 

 exception of a little Indian corn. 



The hammocks were soon all occupied, but sleep was greatly 

 interfered with by barking and snarling dogs, which kept up a 

 perpetual and very noisy battle all night long, and by innumer- 

 able pigs on the prowl, attracted to the hut by the flesh of one 



