JOURNEY TO GUATEMALA. 65 



sion was not one for indulging in gollerias, (delicacies,) 

 and pleaded, as an excuse, his being rather advanced in 

 years. 



During the last two days we had come eighteen leagues, 

 or fifty-four miles, a distance which is more than is usual- 

 ly travelled in that region of rugged and mountainous 

 roads in the same space of time. Our object the next day 

 was to breakfast at Gualan, a town about three leagues 

 distant, where Don Jose had some friends, who, he had 

 reason to believe, would receive him with particular 

 attention. 



We left the hacienda early the next morning, after re- 

 munerating the services of the steward with a small sum, 

 which he seemed to take with reluctance. The country 

 we now passed through consisted of open plains, covered 

 with long grass, and of woody tracts, where again I was 

 surprised by the variety and beauty of the trees — some of 

 them in blossom, others bearing wild fruits — and by the 

 number of birds of brilliant plumage. The most remark- 

 able of the trees was one called the chilindron, which 

 bears a fruit like a walnut, though ten times as large. 

 This fruit is covered with a hard green rind, and its pe- 

 culiarity is, that it does not hang from the twigs of the 

 tree, like other fruits, but grows out of the trunk and 

 larger branches, and so close to the bark, that it looks as if 

 placed there artificially. I was not able to ascertain the 

 uses of this fruit, which is not eatable, being bitter and un- 

 palatable. Neither in regard to the names of the birds, was 

 I able to elicit much information from my fellow-travel- 

 lers, whose ignorance or indifference about these matters 

 was surprising. One species of bird, however, they told 

 me was the American jay, the back of which is blue, and 

 the breast white ; the neck is encircled by a dark ring, and 

 the head surmounted by three little feathers, not unlike 

 those in the head of a peacock. 



In the course of this morning's travel we came to a 

 plantation of nopal, or cactus, the leaves of which are 

 9 



