22 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



CHAPTER II. 



Beautiful Plain.— Leon.— Stroll through the Town.— Baneful Effects of Party 

 Spirit.— Scenes of Horror. — Unpleasant Intelligence. — Journey continued. — 

 A fastidious Beggar.— Chinandaga.— Gulf of Couchagua.— "Visit to Realejo.— 

 Cotton Factory. — Harbour of Realejo. — El Viejo. — Port of Nagoscolo. — Im- 

 portance of a Passport.— Embarking Mules.— A Bungo.— Volcano of Cosagui- 

 na.— Eruption of 1835— La Union. 



At two o'clock we were awakened by the crowing of 

 the cocks, and at three the cargo-mules were loaded 

 and we set off. The road was level and wooded, but 

 desperately dusty. For two hours after daylight we 

 had shade, when we came upon an open plain , bounded 

 on the Pacific side by a low ridge, and on the right by 

 a high range of mountains, forming part of the great 

 chain of the Cordilleras. Before us, at a great distance, 

 rising above the level of the plain, we saw the spires of 

 the Cathedral of Leon. This magnificent plain, in rich- 

 ness of soil not surpassed by any land in the world, lay 

 as desolate as when the Spaniards first traversed it. 

 The dry season was near its close ; for four months there 

 had been no rain, and the dust hung around us in thick 

 clouds, hot and fine as the sands of Egypt. At nine 

 o'clock we reached Leon, and I parted from my com- 

 panions, but not without a courteous invitation from the 

 younger to take up my rest at the house of his brother. 

 The suburbs were more miserable than anything I had 

 yet seen. Passing up a long street, across which a sen- 

 tinel was patrolling, I saw in front of the quartel a 

 group of vagabond soldiers, a match for Carrera's, who 

 cried out insolently, " Quittez el sombrero," " Take off 

 your hat." I had to traverse the whole extent of the 



