104 



INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL. 



of Hocotilla, where Don Saturnmo and our men had 

 slept. The road lay in a magnificent ravine, with a 

 fine bottom land and noble mountain sides. We pass- 

 ed through the straggling settlements of Oratorio and 

 Leon, mostly single huts, where several times we saw 

 women snatch up their children and run into the woods 

 at sight of us. Bury the war-knife, and this valley 

 would be equal to the most beautiful in Switzerland. 

 At twelve o'clock we came upon four posts with a 

 thatched roof, occupied by a scouting-party of Cachu- 

 reco soldiers. We should have been glad to avoid 

 them, but they could not have judged so from the way 

 in which we shouted " amigos !" We inquired for Car- 

 rera ; expected to meet him on the road ; Figoroa had 

 told us he was coming ; Figoroa had entered Aguacha- 

 pa ; and, taking special good care not to tell them that 

 Figoroa had been driven out, we bade them good-by 

 and hurried on. 



At twelve o'clock we reached the Rio de los Escla- 

 vos, a wild and noble river, the bridge across which is 

 the greatest structure in Central America, a memorial 

 of the Spanish dominion. We crossed it and entered 

 the village, a mere collection of huts, standing in a mag- 

 nificent situation on the bank of the river, looking up 

 to a range of giant mountains on the other side, covered 

 to the top with noble pines. The miserable inhabitants 

 were insensible to its beauties, but there were reasons 

 to make them so. Every hostile expedition between 

 Guatimala and San Salvador passed through their vil- 

 lage. Twice within one week Morazan's party had 

 done so ; the inhabitants carried off what they could, 

 and, locking their doors, fled to the mountains. The 

 last time, Morazan's army was so straitened for provis- 

 ions, and pressed by fear of pursuit, that huts were torn 



