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NARRATIVE OF A 



being served up, made me take a seat at trie table, where 

 four or five strangers, besides Mr. M. and myself, partook 

 of the abundant cheer that was spread before us. 



Here, as in all parts of Central America, hotels or pub- 

 lic houses are unknown. The traveller must therefore 

 be provided with letters of introduction for every place 

 he goes to. Yet these are not always indispensable ; hos- 

 pitality seems a matter of course ; lodgings for a night are 

 solicited without much diffidence, and in almost all cases 

 are cheerfully accorded. Remuneration is neither asked 

 nor expected. Even persons of limited means manifest 

 an unwillingness to receive money in return for services 

 of this kind. No objection, however, is made to compen- 

 sation in the form of presents. A segar being, as some 

 one has justly observed, the shortest road to the heart of 

 a Spaniard, whether of the old or the new world, a few 

 bunches of these will always prove acceptable to your 

 host. A cheap pair of pistols, or a dagger, would of course 

 be still more highly prized. A silk kerchief, of some 

 showy pattern, will be esteemed by the housekeeper a 

 handsome compliment; and if there are children in the 

 family, a necklace of beads, or something equivalent, will 

 make them supremely happy. It would seem that inns 

 and taverns are the bane of hospitality, for this virtue cer- 

 tainly does not flourish in so great a degree where those 

 establishments abound, as elsewhere, and so mutatis mu- 

 tandis. Why none exist in the country, it is not in my 

 power satisfactorily to explain. Perhaps as civilization 

 progresses there, their utility will become apparent. 



During dinner an animated conversation was kept up, 

 which, however, did not in the least interfere with the 

 eating ; for most of the guests talked incessantly, without 

 losing a mouthful. As soon as this repast was disposed 

 of, I retired from the table, and seeing two or three ham- 

 mocks hanging from the roof, took possession of one ; and 

 with an old newspaper in one hand, and a segar in the 



