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NARRATIVE OF A 



fore them, and look as if they were there on a visit, or had 

 come to a party. None of them were speaking, when I 

 entered the chamber, nor was I able at first to comprehend 

 the nature of the proceedings. I observed that they rose 

 one after the other, and going to the Secretary, whispered 

 something in his ear, which the latter immediately put in 

 writing. On my asking Mr. Rodriguez for an explana- 

 tion, he told me they were electing a Secretary. This 

 they did by giving in a whisper the name of the candi- 

 date they voted for. Of the votes thus given, a list was 

 made in writing, by which means ballots and ballot-boxes 

 were dispensed with. 



On the evening of the same day I went to a private ball, 

 and had an opportunity of seeing some of the belles and 

 fashionables of St. Salvador. The ladies were well 

 dressed, though not exactly with that elegant simplicity 

 which a good taste would suggest. They exhibited that 

 passion for finery, jewels, and bright colours, so prevalent 

 in the country. Some of them were very pretty, and of 

 those that were not, nearly all had the advantage of being 

 finely formed. They danced the old Spanish country- 

 dances that are now going out of fashion in Spain, as also 

 quadrilles and waltzes, and their performance in them 

 was sufficiently correct and graceful. 



Having fixed on the 30th of May — the third day of my 

 arrival at St. Salvador — for my departure, I was visited, 

 at the appointed time, by the officer who was to accom- 

 pany me. He was a tall, athletic young man, and a half- 

 Indian, and was mounted on a powerful mule. He was 

 dressed in white cotton ; the collar and cuffs of his jacket 

 faced with red ; his legs protected by rodilleras, and his 

 heels armed with a ponderous pair of spurs. He wore a 

 broad-brimmed glazed hat, with a band of gold lace round 

 the crown ; a yellow sash was wound tightly round his 

 waist, but his dagger, instead of being stuck in his sash, 

 was fastened to his right knee, on the outer side, by the 

 tape of the rodilleras. A gold epaulette graced his right 



