A NEW DIFFICrLTY. 



107 



carry the hammocks, and would not remain one day- 

 over, but at length consented to hire the mules for that 

 day. 



Before we started a new party, who had been con- 

 versing some time with Don Gregorio, stepped forward, 

 and said that he was the owner of " the idols that no 

 one could go on the land without his permission ; and 

 handed me his title papers. This was a new difficulty. 

 I was not disposed to dispute his title, but read his pa- 

 pers as attentively as if I meditated an action in eject- 

 ment ; and he seemed relieved when I told him his title 

 was good, and that, if not disturbed, I would make him 

 a compliment at parting. Fortunately, he had a favour 

 to ask. Our fame as physicians had reached the vil- 

 lage, and he wished remedios for a sick wife. It was 

 important to make him our friend ; and, after some con- 

 versation, it was arranged that Mr. C, with several 

 workmen whom we had hired, should go on to the ru- 

 ins, as we intended, to make a lodgment there, while I 

 would go to the village and visit his wife. 



Our new acquaintance, Don Jose Maria Asebedo, was 

 about fifty, tall, and well dressed ; that is, his cotton 

 shirt and pantaloons were clean ; inoffensive, though ig- 

 norant ; and one of the most respectable inhabitants of 

 Copan. He lived in one of the best huts of the village, 

 made of poles thatched with corn-leaves, with a wooden 

 frame on one side for a bed, and furnished with a few 

 pieces of pottery for cooking. A heavy rain had fallen 

 during the night, and the ground inside the hut was 

 wet. His wife seemed as old as he, and, fortunately, 

 was suffering from a rheumatism of several years' stand- 

 ing. I say fortunately, but I speak only in reference to 

 ourselves as medical men, and the honour of the pro- 

 fession accidentally confided to our hands. I told her 



