JOURNEY TO GUATEMALA. 165 



escort and the baggage mules, which had been sent on be- 

 fore, and the friends of Don Ignacio took their leave. 

 Half an hour at least was consumed in the performance of 

 this ceremony. There was such a shaking of hands, such 

 a repetition of the words adios and buen viaje, and such 

 interest expressed about the safety and welfare of my new 

 friend, that one would have thought he was going to the 

 end of the world, and might never be seen again. I was 

 a mere spectator in the scene, being completely eclipsed 

 by Don Ignacio, whose friends barely bestowed on me a 

 * farewell nod, as they turned their horses and galloped 

 back to the city. 



We now proceeded at a more gentle pace. The route 

 we pursued was not the one usually taken by travellers 

 going to Izabal, nor that by which I had arrived at Guate- 

 mala. It was a road leading through another part of the 

 country, and which had been recommended to me as 

 being somewhat shorter, and as affording me an opportu- 

 nity of performing the latter part of my journey by water. 

 It was also considered by Don Ignacio as the preferable 

 route. The only objection to it was that the country, in 

 that direction, was but thinly settled, and there were fewer 

 villages. This difficulty I submitted to the consideration 

 of my companion before starting, but his reply was, " No 

 importa, there is no want of haciendas on the way." But 

 are you, I rejoined, acquainted with the proprietors of 

 them? " No importa," said he again, "we shall be well re- 

 ceived ;" and it was definitively settled that we should 

 proceed by the route alluded to. 



We soon left behind us the plains of Guatemala, and 

 came to a hilly broken country, where we continued to 

 ascend and descend till we came to the river Chinauta. 

 After following the course of this river for some time, and 

 crossing it in several places, we commenced ascending a 

 series of heights, the last of which fully compensated the 

 fatigue we had undergone in reaching it, by the charm- 

 ing prospect it afforded. An extensive tract was spread 



