168 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



back from the frontiers of San Salvador, and occupied 

 the w^hole line of villages to the capital. They v^ere 

 mostly Indians, ignorant, intemperate, and fanatic, who 

 could not comprehend my official character, could not 

 read my passport, and, in the excited state of the coun- 

 try, w^ould suspect me as a stranger. They had al- 

 ready committed great atrocities ; there v^^as not a cu- 

 rate on the vrhole road ; and to attempt traversing it 

 would be to expose myself to robbery and murder. I 

 was very loth to protract my journey, but it would have 

 been madness to proceed ; in fact, no muleteer would 

 undertake to go on with me, and I was obliged to turn 

 my eyes to Chiquimula and the road I had left. The 

 cura said I must be guided by him. I put myself in his 

 hands, and at a late hour lay down to rest with the 

 strange consciousness of being a welcome guest. 



I was awaked by the sound of the matin bell, and ac- 

 companied the cura to mass. The church for every- 

 day use was directly opposite the convent, spacious and 

 gloomy, and the floor was paved with large square 

 bricks or tiles. Rows of Indian women were kneeling 

 around the altar, cleanly dressed, with white mantillas 

 over their heads, but without shoes or stockings. A 

 few men stood up behind or leaned against the walls. 



We returned to breakfast, and afterward set out to 

 visit the only object of interest, the great church of 

 the pilgrimage, the Holy Place of Central America. 

 Every year, on the fifteenth of January, pilgrims visit 

 it, even from Peru and Mexico ; the latter being a jour- 

 ney not exceeded in hardship by the pilgrimage to Mec- 

 ca. As in the East, "it is not forbidden to trade du- 

 ring the pilgrimage and when there are no wars to 

 make the roads unsafe, eighty thousand people have as- 



