46 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



sin, where the water was hotter than the highest grade 

 of my Reaumur's thermometer. In several places we 

 heard subterranean noises, and toward the end of the 

 ravine, on the slope of one side, was an orifice about 

 thirty feet in diameter, from which, with a terrific noise, 

 boiling water was spouted into the air. This is called 

 El Infiernillo, or the " little infernal regions." The in- 

 habitants say that the noise is increased by the slight- 

 est agitation of the air, even by the human voice. Ap- 

 proaching to within range of the falling water, we shout- 

 ed several times, and as we listened and gazed into 

 the fearful cavity, I imagined that the noise was louder 

 and more angry, and that the boiling water spouted 

 higher at our call. Colonel Hoyas conducted me to a 

 path, from which I saw my road, like a white line, over 

 a high verdant mountain. He told me that many of 

 the inhabitants of San Miguel had fled to San Vicente, 

 and at that place the Honduras arms would be repel- 

 led ; we parted, little expecting to see each other again 

 so soon, and under such unpleasant circumstances for 

 him. 



I overtook the captain at a village where he had 

 breakfast prepared, and in the afternoon we arrived at 

 Cojutepeque, until within two days the temporary cap- 

 ital, beautifully situated at the foot of a small extinct 

 volcano, its green and verdant sides broken only by a 

 winding path, and on the top a fortress, which Morazan 

 had built as his last raliying-place, to die under the flag 

 of the Republic. 



The next day at one o'clock we reached San Salva- 

 dor. Entering by a fine gate, and through suburbs 

 teeming with fruit and flower trees, the meanness of the 

 houses was hardly noticed. Advancing, we saw heaps 

 of rubbish, and large houses with their fronts cracked 



