346 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



a grove of cocoarmt trees at a long distance before 

 us, the only objects rising above the level surface, in- 

 dicating, and, at the same time, hiding, the port of 

 Yalahao. The road lay over a causeway, then wet 

 and slippery, with, numerous holes, and sometimes 

 completely overflowed. On each side was a sort 

 of creek, and in the plain were large pools of wa- 

 ter. With a satisfaction perhaps greater than we 

 had experienced in our whole journey, w^e reached 

 the port, and, after a long absence, came down 

 once more upon the shore of the sea. 



The village was a long, straggling street of huts, 

 elevated a few feet above the washing of the waves. 

 In passing along it, for the first time in the coun- 

 try we came to a bridge crossing a brook, with a 

 fine stream of running water in sight on the left. 

 Our horses seemed as much astonished as ourselves, 

 and we had great difficulty in getting them over the 

 bridge. On the shore was another spring bubbling 

 within reach of the waves. 



We rode on to the house of Don Juan Bautista, 

 to whom we had a letter from the cura of Chemax, 

 but he had gone to his rancho. His house and one 

 other were the only two in the place built of stone, 

 and the materials had been obtained from the ruins 

 of Zuza, standing on his rancho, tw^o leagues dis- 

 tant on the coast. 



We returned through the village to a house be- 

 longing to our friend the cura, better ^an any ex- 

 cept the two stone houses, and in situation finer than 



