JOURNEY TO GUATEMALA. 



103 



On visiting him I found this to be the case, his head being 

 covered by a piece of fine white cambric. I had some 

 difficulty in suppressing a smile ; and all I could do to 

 keep my eyes from his head, they still wandered in that 

 direction. This circumstance, however, was by no means 

 injurious to his looks, for a finer and more intellectual 

 countenance I have seldom seen, nor a brighter and more 

 penetrating eye. 



Mr. Alvarez received me with flattering marks of atten- 

 tion, and informed me that it had been determined to fur- 

 nish me a military escort to take me to Guatemala, and 

 that I could dispose of fifty men whenever I should think 

 proper to undertake the journey. "With this force, he 

 said, I could proceed in perfect safety, and should have no 

 occasion to retreat before any party of insurgents I might 

 meet with, though twice as strong in number. This es- 

 cort 1 was to take at a town, called tSonsoiiaie* a few 

 leagues distant from St. Salvador, but on my way from 

 the city to that town I should be accompanied by an offi- 

 cer, who, for so short a distance, would be all the protec- 

 tion I should need. 



An arrangement so favourable to my views, left me 

 nothing to desire. It only now remained for me to fix 

 the day when I should resume my journey. Before my 

 departure, however, I resolved to attend one of the ses- 

 sions of the legislative body, and having become acquaint- 

 ed with Don Manuel Rodriguez, a Senator, and a great 

 admirer of the United States, I went in company with 

 that gentleman to the Chamber of Deputies. 



The sessions are held — as I have before observed — in a 

 large house appropriated to that purpose. The members sit 

 in a saloon, one half of which is separated by a balustrade, 

 and is occupied by the public. At the opposite extremity 

 sits the Speaker, under a canopy, with a table covered 

 with damask before him, and a secretary at his side. 

 The members — twenty-six in number — sit on chairs dis- 

 tributed along the walls, without any desks or tables be- 



