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68 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



and lighted up the sides of the mountains, while the 

 tops were covered with clouds. At four o'clock we 

 had a distant view of the great plain of Zacapa, bound- 

 ed on the opposite side by a triangular belt of mount- 

 ains, at the foot of which stood the town. We de- 

 scended and crossed the plain, which was green and 

 well cultivated ; and, fording a stream, ascended a rug- 

 ged bank and entered the town. 



It was by far the finest we had seen. The streets 

 were regular, and the houses plastered and whitewash- 

 ed, with large balconied windows and piazzas. The 

 church was two hundred and fifty feet long, with walls 

 ten feet thick, and a facade rich with Moorish devices. 

 It was built in the form of a Latin cross. In one end 

 of the cross was a tailor's shop, and the other was roof- 

 less. At one corner was a belfry, consisting of four 

 rough trunks of trees supporting a peaked roof covered 

 with tiles. Two bells were suspended from a rude 

 beam ; and, as we passed, a half-naked Indian was 

 standing on a platform underneath, ringing for vespers. 



We rode up to the house of Don Mariano Durante, 

 one of the largest and best in the place, being about a 

 hundred feet front, and having a corridor extending the 

 whole length, paved with square stones. The door was 

 opened by a respectable-looking St. Domingo negro, 

 who told us, in French, that Seiior Durante was not at 

 home, but that the house was at our service ; and, going 

 round to a porte cocMre alongside, admitted us into a 

 large courtyard ornamented with trees and flowers, at 

 one side of which was a cabelleria or stable. We left 

 our mules in the hands of the servants, and entered a 

 sala or reception-room covering nearly the whole front, 

 with large windows reaching down to the floor and iron 

 balconies, and furnished with tables, a European bu- 



