CONVERSATION WITH AN INDIAN. 



71 



only books I saw were a Catholic prayer-book and a 

 translation of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. The 

 boys were fine little fellows, half white ; and with one 

 of them I had a trial of sums in addition, and then of 

 exercises in handwriting, in which he showed himself 

 very proficient, writing in Spanish, in a hand which I 

 could not mistake, " Give me sixpence.'' 



"We were rather at a loss what to do with ourselves, 

 but in the afternoon our host called in an Indian for the 

 purpose of enabling us to make a vocabulary of Indian 

 words. The first question I asked him was the name 

 of God, to which he answered, Santissima Trinidad. 

 Through our host I explained to him that I did not wish 

 the Spanish, but the Indian name, and he answered as 

 before, Santissima Trinidad, or Dios. I shaped my 

 question in a variety of ways, but could get no other 

 answer. He was of a tribe called Chinaute, and the 

 inference was, either that they had never known any 

 Great Spirit who governed and directed the universe, 

 or that they had undergone such an entire change in 

 matters of religion that they had lost their own appella- 

 tion for the Deity. 



In the evening the town was thrown into excitement 

 by the entry of a detachment of Carrera's soldiers, on 

 their way to Yzabal to receive and escort a purchase of 

 muskets. The house of our friend was a gathering- 

 place of residents, and, as usual, the conversation turn- 

 ed upon the revolutionary state of the country. Some 

 of them, as soon as they knew my official character, were 

 anxious for me to go directly to San Salvador, the head- 

 quarters of the Morazan or Federal party, and assured 

 me that the road to Guatimala was occupied by the 

 troops of Carrera, and dangerous to travel over. I 

 knew too much of the effect of party spirit to put im- 



