JOURNEY TO GUATEMALA. 



11 



Having entered the harbor, we came to anchor. The 

 port was crowded with vessels, one-third part at least 

 Americans : the wharfs were covered with people ; some 

 busy and bustling ; others loitering and looking on. In 

 a little while we were visited by the captain of the port, 

 who received our passports ; and afterwards, by the offi- 

 cers of the customs. These functionaries came in their 

 several barges ; and I could not help contrasting the man- 

 ner in which similar duties are discharged in New York 

 and Havana. In the former port the doctor and the cus- 

 tom-house officer go off to a vessel, each in a light boat or 

 gig, pulled by four oars at most, and in a mere simple 

 business way, without any parade. Here, on the con- 

 trary, with the love of the grandiose proper to a Spaniard, 

 the captain of the port is attended with two or three su- 

 balterns ; and the delegates of the customs are five or six 

 in number. Each party has its twelve-oared barge, with 

 coxswain at the helm, and a man with a boat-hook at the 

 bows, and sits in becoming state under a capacious awning 

 of painted canvass, above which the flag of Spain floats 

 proudly to the breeze. 



After complying with the formalities strictly observed 

 in the admission of strangers, I was permitted to land, and 

 found no difficulty in procuring comfortable quarters. I 

 was pleased with the general appearance of the city, which 

 is that of a provincial capital in Spain. There is an air 

 of antiquity about this and other Spanish cities in Ameri- 

 ca, which is not to be met with in the United States, where 

 an ancient building is rarely to be seen. The streets are 

 macadamized, and are clean and pleasant in good weather, 

 but almost impassable after a shower. The houses, many 

 of which are but one story high, with flat roofs, are white- 

 washed, as in the south of Spain, or painted of some light 

 colour, and have a neat and airy appearance. Some are of 

 two or three stories ; and many of those occupied by the 

 wealthy classes are large and massive, more like castles 



