36 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



ed straw hat falling over his eyes like an extinguisher 

 upon a candle, vs^as standing at the door as sentinel. 

 The troops, consisting of about thirty men and boys, 

 were drawn up in front, and a sergeant was smoking a 

 cigar and drilling them. The uniform purported to 

 be a white straw hat, cotton trousers and shirt outside, 

 musket, and cartridge-box. In one particular uniform- 

 ity was strictly observed, viz., all were barefooted. 

 The first process of calling off rank and file was omit- 

 ted ; and, as it happened, a long-legged fellow, six feet 

 high, stood next to a boy twelve or thirteen years old. 

 The custom-house officer was with the sergeant, advi- 

 sing him ; and, after a manoeuvre and a consultation, 

 the sergeant walked up to the line, and with the palm 

 of his hand struck a soldier on that part of the body 

 which, in my younger days, was considered by the 

 schoolmaster the channel of knowledge into a boy's 

 brain. 



The commandant of this hopeful band was Don Juan 

 Penol, a gentleman by birth and education, who, with 

 others of his family, had been banished by General 

 Morazan, and sought refuge in the United States. His 

 predecessor, who was an officer of Morazan, had been 

 just driven out by the Carrera party, and he was but 

 twenty days in his place. 



Three great parties at that time distracted Central 

 America : that of Morazan, the former president of the 

 Republic, in San Salvador, of Ferrera in Honduras, 

 and of Carrera in Guatimala. Ferrera was a mulatto, 

 and Carrera an Indian ; and, though not fighting for 

 any common purpose, they sympathized in opposition 

 to Morazan. When Mr. Montgomery visited Guati- 

 mala, it was just thrown into a ferment by the rising 

 of Carrera, who was then regarded as the head of a 



