120 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



to accompany me to San Salvador, it was agreed that 

 during my absence he should, with the Senores Payes, go 

 to Quirigua, which he accordingly did. 



The reader must go back to Encuentros, the place at 

 which we slept the second night of our arrival in the 

 country. From this place they embarked in a canoe 

 about twenty-five feet long and four broad, dug out of 

 the trunk of a mahogany-tree, and descending two 

 hours, disembarked at Los Amates, near El Poso, on 

 the main road from Yzabal to Guatimala, the place at 

 which we breakfasted the second morning of our arri- 

 val in the country, and where the Senores Payes were 

 obliged to wait two or three days. The place was a 

 miserable collection of huts, scant of provisions, and 

 the people drank a muddy water at their doors rather 

 than take the trouble of going to the river. 



On a fine morning, after a heavy rain, they set off 

 for the ruins. After a ride of about half an hour, over 

 an execrable road, they again reached the Amates. The 

 village was pleasantly situated on the bank of the river, 

 and elevated about thirty feet. The river was here about 

 two hundred feet wide, and fordable in every part except 

 a few deep holes. Generally it did not exceed three feet 

 in depth, and in many places was not so deep ; but be- 

 low it was said to be navigable to the sea for boats not 

 drawing more than three feet water. They embarked 

 in two canoes dug out of cedar-trees, and proceeded 

 down the river for a couple of miles, where they took 

 on board a negro man named Juan Lima, and his two 

 wives. This black scoundrel, as Mr. C. marks him 

 down in his notebook, was to be their guide. They 

 then proceeded two or three miles farther, and stopped 

 at a rancho on the left side of the river, and passing 

 through two cornfields, entered a forest of large cedar 



