46 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



sumed our journey. The descent was as bad as the 

 ascent ; and, instead of stopping to let the mules 

 breathe, as they had done in ascending, the muleteers 

 seemed anxious to determine in how short a time they 

 could tumble them down the mountain. In one of the 

 muddiest defiles we were shut up by the falling of a 

 mule before, and the crowding upon us of all behind ; 

 and, at the first convenient place, we stopped until the 

 whole caravan had passed. The carefulness of the 

 mules was extraordinary. For an hour I watched the 

 movements of the one before me. At times he put one 

 of his fore feet on a root or stone, and tried it as a man 

 would ; sometimes he drew his fore legs out of a bed 

 of mud from the shoulders, and sometimes it was one 

 continued alternation of sinking and pulling out. 



This is the great high road to the city of Guatimala, 

 which has always been a place of distinction in Span- 

 ish America. Almost all the travel and merchandise 

 from Europe passes over it ; and our guide said that 

 the reason it was so bad was because it was traversed 

 by so many mules. In some countries this would be a 

 reason for making it better ; but it was pleasant to find 

 that the people to whom I was accredited were relieved 

 from one of the sources of contention at home, and did 

 not trouble themselves with the complicated questions 

 attendant upon internal improvements. =^ 



In two hours we reached a wild river or mountain 

 torrent, foaming and breaking over its rocky bed, and 

 shaded by large trees. It was called El Arroyo del 

 Muerto, or Stream of the Dead. The muleteers were 

 already distributed on the rocks or under the shade of 



* Since that time the Constituent Assembly of Guatimala has imposed a tax 

 of one dollar upon every bale of merchandise that passes over the mountain, for 

 the improvement of the road. 



