VIS'IT FROM THE ALCALDE. 



121 



mg spirits, who was ill with a prospective attack of fe- 

 ver and ague or rheumatism, from standing all day in 

 the mud. Our men went home, and Frederico had or- 

 ders, before coming to work in the morning, to go to 

 Don Gregorio's and buy bread, milk, candles, lard, and 

 a few yards of beef. The door of the hut looked to- 

 ward the west, and the sun set over the dark forest in 

 front with a gorgeousness I have never seen surpassed. 

 Again, during the night, we had rain, with thunder and 

 lightning, but not so violent as the night before, and in 

 the morning it was again clear. 



That day Mr. Catherwood was much more success- 

 ful in his drawings ; indeed, at the beginning the light 

 fell exactly as he wished, and he mastered the difficulty. 

 His preparations, too, were much more comfortable, as 

 he had his water-proofs, and stood on a piece of oiled 

 canvass, used for covering luggage on the road. I 

 passed the morning in selecting another monument, 

 clearing away the trees, and preparing it for him to 

 copy. At one o'clock Augustin came to call us to din- 

 ner. Don Miguel had a patch of beans, from which 

 Augustin gathered as many as he pleased, and, with the 

 fruits of a standing order for all the eggs in the village, 

 being three or four a day, strings of beef, and bread and 

 milk from the hacienda, we did very well. In the af- 

 ternoon we were again called off by Augustin, with a 

 message that the alcalde had come to pay us a visit. 

 As it was growing late, we broke up for the day, and 

 went back to the hut. We shook hands with the al- 

 calde, and gave him and his attendants cigars, and were 

 disposed to be sociable ; but the dignitary was so tipsy 

 he could hardly speak. His attendants sat crouching 

 on the ground, swinging themselves on their knee- 

 joints, and, though the positions were different, re- 



VoL. I.— Q 11 



