282 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



told him I was coming, which surprised me still more, 

 as I did not remember any friend of that name, but 

 soon learned that this imposing cognomen meant my 

 friend Mr. Patrick Walker, of Balize. This was the 

 first notice of Mr. Walker and Captain Caddy I had 

 received since Lieutenant Nicols brought to Guatimala 

 the report that they had been speared by the Indians. 

 They had reached Palenque by the Balize River and 

 Lake of Peten, without any other difficulties than from 

 the badness of the roads, had remained two weeks at 

 the ruins, and left for the Laguna and Yucatan. This 

 was most gratifying intelligence, first, as it assured me 

 of their safety, and second, as I gathered from it that 

 there would be no impediment to our visiting the ruins. 

 The apprehension of being met at the end of our toil- 

 some journey with a peremptory exclusion had con- 

 stantly disturbed us more or less, and sometimes 

 weighed upon us like lead. We had determined to 

 make no reference to the ruins until we had an oppor- 

 tunity of ascertaining our ground, and up to that mo- 

 ment I did not know but that all our labour was boot- 

 less. To heighten my satisfaction, the prefeto said that 

 the place was perfectly quiet ; it was in a retired nook, 

 which revolutions and political convulsions never reach- 

 ed. He had held his office twenty years, acknowledg- 

 ing as many different governments. 



I returned to make my report, and in regard to the 

 old alcalde, in the language of a ward-meeting mani- 

 festo, determined to ask for nothing but what was right, 

 and to submit to nothing that was wrong. In this spirit 

 we made a bold stand for some corn. The alcalde's 

 "no hay" was but too true ; the corn-crop had failed, 

 and there was an actual famine in the place. The In- 

 dians, with accustomed improvidence, had planted 



