28 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



Ocean, and on the right the great range of Cordilleras, 

 terminated by the volcano of the Viejo. 



I had passed through the village of Chichuapa when 

 I heard a cry of " caballero" behind me, and turning, 

 saw divers people waving their hands, and a woman 

 running, almost out of breath, with a pocket-handker- 

 chief which I had left at the house where I breakfasted. 

 I was going on, when a respectable-looking gentleman 

 stopped me, with many apologies for the liberty, and 

 asked for a medio, sixpence. I gave him one, which 

 he examined and handed back, saying, " No corre," 

 " it does not pass." It was always, in paying money, 

 a matter of course to have two or three pieces return- 

 ed, and this I sometimes resisted ; but as in this land 

 everything was al reverso, it seemed regular for beg- 

 gars to be choosers, and I gave him another. 



My stopping-place was at the house of Mr, Bridges, 

 an Englishman from one of the West India Islands, 

 who had been resident in the country many years, and 

 was married to a lady of Leon, but, on account of the 

 convulsions of the country, lived on his hacienda. The 

 soil was rich for cotton and sugar, and Mr. B. said that 

 here fifty men could manufacture sugar cheaper than 

 two hundred in the islands ; but the difficulty was, no 

 reliance could be placed upon Indian labour. Here 

 again 1 , thanks to the kindness of Mr. B. and his lady, 

 and the magnificent wildness of hacienda life, I could 

 have passed several days with much satisfaction ; but I 

 stopped only for dinner, after which Mr. B. accompa- 

 nied me to Chinandaga. 



As usual, my first business was to make arrange- 

 ments for continuing my journey. My whole road was 

 along the coast of the Pacific, but beyond this the 

 Gulf of Couchagua made a large indentation in the 



