92 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



were tied together, its head drawn back by a rope tied 

 from its horns to its tail, and with one thrust of the ma- 

 chete the artery of life was severed. The pack of hun- 

 gry dogs stood ready, and, with a horrible clicking, 

 lapped up the blood with their tongues. All the wom- 

 en were looking on, and a young girl took a puppy 

 dog and rubbed its nose in the crimson stream, to give 

 it early a taste for blood. The ox was skinned, the 

 meat separated from the bones, and, to the entire 

 destruction of steaks, sirloins, and roasting-pieces, in an 

 hour the whole animal was hanging in long strings on a 

 line before the door. 



During this operation Don Gregorio arrived. He 

 was about fifty, had large black whiskers, and a beard 

 of several days' growth ; and, from the behaviour of all 

 around, it was easy to see that he was a domestic ty- 

 rant. The glance which he threw at us before dis- 

 mounting seemed to say, " Who are you V but, without 

 a word, he entered the house. We waited until he had 

 finished his dinner, when, supposing that to be the fa- 

 vourable moment, I entered the house. In my inter- 

 course with the world I have more than once found my 

 overtures to an acquaintance received coldly, but I nev- 

 er experienced anything quite so cool as the don's re- 

 ception of me. I told him that we had come into that 

 neighbourhood to visit the ruins of Copan, and his man- 

 ner said, What's that to me ? but he answered that they 

 were on the other side of the river. I asked him wheth- 

 er we could procure a guide, and again he said that the 

 only man who knew anything about them lived on the 

 other side of the river. As yet we did not make sufl[i- 

 cient allowance for the distracted state of the country, 

 nor the circumstance that a man might incur danger to 

 himself by giving shelter to suspected persons ; but, re- 



