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NARRATIVE OF A 



his appearance, whom I saluted, and addressed in the 

 most civil manner, asking him whether that was his 

 house, and whether he would permit me to pass the night 

 there. The old man shrugged his shoulders, and did not, 

 or pretended not, to understand. I repeated the question, 

 and his answer was, managh, managh, which — as I af- 

 terwards learnt — means, I have none, or there is none ; 

 the poor man believing, no doubt, that I was asking him 

 for something to eat. I then desired him, partly by signs, 

 to show me the way to the house ; but his answer was, 

 with something like petulance in the manner of giving 

 it, " no hay camino," (there is no road.) 



I now determined I would go into that hut " whether 

 or not." Accordingly, I struck my spurs into my mule, 

 and rode through the milpa to the door of the hut, where 

 I tied my mule, and walked in ; the old and the young In- 

 dian following me, and muttering in their native language 

 unintelligible things. On entering the hut, I found a 

 young woman occupied making tortillas. I sat down op- 

 posite to her, and addressed to her a few words, but to no 

 purpose : she looked at me for a moment with an air of sur- 

 prise, and then continued her work. She evidently did not 

 understand a word of Spanish. Two little dirty naked 

 children were sprawling at her feet ; and it immediately 

 struck me that she might be their mother. With this 

 impression, I took one of them up, placed it on my knee, 

 and wiping its little mouth, gave it a kiss. This act did 

 not escape the attention of the mother — for such she 

 proved to be — her countenance suddenly brightened up, 

 and her full dark eyes beamed with an expression of 

 pleasure. Pursuing my advantage, I made out to ask her 

 whether that was her child. She seemed to understand 

 me, and answered, ha, ha, guahenni — which means, yes, 

 yes, my child. I then pointed to the other child, and 

 asked if that, too, was her guahenni. She answered with 

 a nod and a smile ; and thereupon, I took up that one 

 also, and caressed it as I had done the first. 



