WALL OP COPAN. 



95 



had two sides, an inside and an out. The don and his 

 family occupied the former, and we the latter ; but we 

 had not even this to ourselves. All along the wall 

 were frames made of sticks about an inch thick, tied 

 together with bark strings, over which the workmen 

 spread an untanned oxhide for a bed. There were 

 three hammocks besides ours, and I had so little room 

 for mine that my body described an inverted parabola, 

 with my heels as high as my head. It was vexatious 

 and ridiculous ; or, in the words of the English tourist 

 in Fra Diavolo, it was " shocking ! positively shocking !" 



In the morning Don Gregorio was in the same hu- 

 mour. We took no notice of him, but made our toilet 

 under the shed with as much respect as possible to the 

 presence of the female members of the family, who were 

 constantly passing and repassing. We had made up 

 our minds to hold on and see the ruins ; and, fortunate- 

 ly, early in the morning, one of the crusty don's sons, a 

 civil young man, brought over from the village Jose, the 

 guide of whom we stood in need. 



By reason of many vexatious delays, growing out of 

 difficulties between Jose and the muleteer, we did not 

 get away until nine o'clock. Very soon we left the 

 path or road, and entered a large field, partially culti- 

 vated with corn, belonging to Don Gregorio. Riding 

 some distance through this, we reached a hut, thatched 

 with corn-leaves, on the edge of the woods, at which 

 some workmen were preparing their breakfast. Here 

 we dismounted, and, tying our mules to trees near by, 

 entered the woods, Jose clearing a path before us with 

 a machete ; soon we came to the bank of a river, and saw 

 directly opposite a stone wall, perhaps a hundred feet 

 high, with furze growing out of the top, running north 

 and south along the river, in some places fallen, but in 



