32 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



her maize, and screeched in my ears that a guarda had 

 been sent direct from the capital, with orders to let no 

 one embark without a passport. The guarda had gone 

 down the river in a canoe, in search of a bungo which 

 had attempted to go away without a passport ; and I 

 walked down the bank of the canal in hope to catch him 

 alone when he returned. The sun was scorching hot, 1 

 and as I passed the bungoes the boatmen asked me if I 

 had a passport. At the end of the canal, under the shade 

 of a large tree, were two women ; and they had been in 

 that place three days, waiting for one of their party who 

 had gone to Leon to procure a passport. 



It was more than an hour before the guarda appear- 

 ed. He was taken by the eagle on my hat, and while 

 I told him my story, said " Si, senor," to everything ; 

 but when I talked of embarking, said, " Senor, you 

 have no passport." I will not inflict upon the reader 

 the details of all my vexations and anxiety that after- 

 noon. I was most eager to hurry on. To send a cou- 

 rier to Leon would keep me in suspense insufferable. 

 Some difficulty might happen, and the only way for 

 peace of mind was to return myself. I had already 

 made a longer journey than is ever made in the coun- 

 try without an interval of rest. The road before me 

 led through the seat of war, and four days' detention 

 might throw me into the midst of it. (In fact, the 

 result proved that one day would have done so.) I 

 walked with the guarda to the hut, and in greater 

 anxiety than I had felt since my departure from home, 

 showed him my papers — a larger bundle, perhaps, than 

 he had ever seen before, and with bigger seals, partic- 

 ularly my original passport from my own government — 

 jumbting together his government and my government, 

 the amicable relations existing between them, and try* 



