ENTRY INTO MEXICO. 



243 



boundary-line between Guatimala and Mexico, a scene 

 of wild and surpassing beauty, with banks shaded by 

 some of the noblest trees of the tropical forests, water 

 as clear as crystal, and fish a foot long playing in it as 

 gently as if there were no fish-hooks. No soldiers were 

 visible ; all was as desolate as if no human being had 

 ever crossed the boundary before. We had a mo- 

 ment's consultation on which side to encamp, and de- 

 termined to make a lodgment in Mexico. I was riding 

 Pawling's horse, and spurred him into the water, to be 

 the first to touch the soil. With one plunge his fore- 

 feet were off the bottom, and my legs under water. 

 For an instant I hesitated ; but as the water rose to my 

 holsters my enthusiasm gave way, and I wheeled back 

 into Central America. As we afterward found, the 

 water was ten or twelve feet deep. 



We waited for the Indians, in some doubt whether it 

 would be possible to cross at all with the luggage. At a 

 short distance above was a ledge of rocks, forming rap- 

 ids, over which there had been a bridge with a wooden 

 arch and stone abutments, the latter of which were still 

 standing, the bridge having been carried away by the 

 rising of the waters seven years before. It was the last 

 of the dry season ; the rocks were in some places dry, 

 the body of the river running in channels on each side, 

 and a log was laid to them from the abutments of the 

 bridge. We took off the saddles and bridles of the 

 mules, and cautiously, with the water breaking rapidly 

 up to the knees, carried everything across by hand ; an 

 operation in which an hour was consumed. One night's 

 rain on the mountains would have made it impassable. 

 The mules were then swum across, and we were all 

 ianded safely in Mexico. 



On the bank opposite the place where I attempted to 



