334 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



mon expression, " Hay mucho vago en Valladolid," 

 " There are many idlers in Valladolid and we 

 saw more gamecocks tied by the leg along the walls 

 of the houses than we had seen in any other place 

 we visited. Part of om* business was to repair our 

 wardrobe and procure a pair of shoes, but neither 

 of these undertakings could we accomplish. There 

 were no shoes ready made, and no artist would 

 promise to make a pair in less than a week, which 

 we learned might be interpreted as meaning at least 

 two. 



In the mean time we were making inquiries and 

 arrangements for our journey to the coast. It is al- 

 most impossible to conceive what difficulty we had 

 in learning anything definite concerning the road 

 we ought to take. Don Pedro Baranda had a 

 manuscript map, made by himself, which, however, 

 he did not represent as very correct ; and the place 

 on the coast which we wished to visit was not laid 

 down on it at all. There were but two persons in 

 the town who could give us any information, and 

 what they gave was most unsatisfactory. Our first 

 plan was to go to the Bay of Ascension, where we 

 were advised we could hire a canoa for our coast 

 voyage, but fortunately, by the advice of Don Pedro 

 Baranda, we were saved from this calamitous step, 

 which would have subjected us to a long and bootless 

 journey, and the necessity of returning to Vallado- 

 lid without accomplishing anything, which might 

 have disheartened us from attempting to reach the 



