252 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



reason to believe that the place was entirely desolate ; we 

 might be on the ground before any one knew we were in 

 the neighbourhood, and then make terms either to re- 

 main or evacuate, as the case might require ; and it was 

 worth the risk if we got one day's quiet possession. 

 "With this uncertain prospect we immediately commenced 

 repairing and making preparations for our journey. 



The comfort of finding ourselves at this distant place 

 in the house of a countryman can hardly be appreciated. 

 In dress, manner, appearance, habits, and feelings, the 

 doctor was as natural as if we had met him at home. 

 The only difference Was his language, which he could 

 not speak connectedly, but interlarded it with Spanish 

 expressions. He moved among the people, but he was 

 not of them ; and the only tie that bound him was a 

 dark-eyed Spanish beauty, one of the few that I saw in 

 that country for whom a man might forget kindred and 

 home. He was anxious to leave the country, but was 

 trammelled by a promise made his mother-in-law not 

 to do so during her life. He lived, however, in such 

 constant anxiety, that he hoped she would release him. 



Comitan, the frontier town of Chiapas, contains a 

 population of about ten thousand. It has a superb 

 church, and well-filled convent of Dominican friars. 

 The better classes, as in Central America, have dwell- 

 ing-houses in the town, and derive their subsistence 

 from the products of their haciendas, which they visit 

 from time to time. It is a place of considerable trade, 

 and has become so by the effect of bad laws ; for, in 

 consequence of the heavy duties on regular importations 

 at the Mexican ports of entry, most of the European 

 goods consumed in this region are smuggled in from 

 Balize and Guatimala. The proceeds of confiscations 

 and the perquisites of officers are such an important 



