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200 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



on the opposite side, which occupied three hours. 

 Through openings in the woods we looked down pre- 

 cipices one or two thousand feet deep, while the 

 mountain side was still higher above us. The whole 

 mountain was clothed with luxuriant vegetation, and 

 though wanting the rocky, savage grandeur of Alpine 

 scenery, at every turn the view was sublime. As we 

 climbed up we met a few Indians who could speak no 

 language but their own, and reaching the top, saw a 

 wretched spectacle of the beings made in God's image. 

 A drunken Indian was lying on the ground, his face 

 cut with a machete, and weltering in his blood ; and a 

 drunken woman was crying over .him. Our Indians 

 stopped and spoke to them, but we could not under- 

 stand what they said. At about three o'clock we emer- 

 ged from the woods, and very soon saw Totonicapan, 

 at a great distance and far below us, on a magnificent 

 plain, with a high table of land behind it, a range of 

 mountains springing from the table, and rising above 

 them the Volcano of Quezaltenango. The town was 

 spread over a large space, and the flat roofs of the 

 houses seemed one huge covering, broken only by the 

 steeple of the church. We descended the mountain to 

 the banks of a beautiful stream, along which Indian 

 women were washing ; and following it, entered the 

 town, and rode up to the house of the corregidor, Don 

 Jose Azmitia. Our luggage had arrived safely, and in 

 a few minutes our men presented themselves to receive 

 us. 



Much might be said of Totonicapan as the head of a 

 department, and surrounded by mountains visible on ali 

 sides from the plaza ; but I stop only to record an event. 

 All along, with the letters to corregidors, the passport 

 of Carrera, and the letter of the archbishop, our road 



