194 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



dining-room, which had a door and two windows open- 

 ing upon the corridor. At the end of the dining-room 

 was a door leading to a sleeping-room, with door and 

 one window, and then another room of the same size, 

 all with doors and windows opening upon the corridor. 

 The building and corridor were continued across the 

 foot of the lot ; in the centre were rooms for servants, 

 and in the corners were a kitchen and stable, com- 

 pletely hidden from sight, and each furnished with a 

 separate fountain. This is the plan of all the houses in 

 Guatimala ; others are much larger ; that of the Ayci- 

 nena family, for instance, covered a square of two hun- 

 dred feet ; but mine combined more beauty and com- 

 fort than any habitation I ever saw. 



At two o'clock my luggage arrived, and I was most 

 comfortably installed in my new domicil. The sala or 

 reception-room was furnished with a large bookcase, 

 containing rows of books with yellow bindings, which 

 gave me twinging recollections of a law-office at home ; 

 the archives of the legation had quite an imposing as- 

 pect ; and over Mr. De Witt's writing-table hung an- 

 other memorial of home : a fac-simile of the Declaration 

 of Independence. 



My first business was to make arrangements for send- 

 ing a trusty escort for Mr. Catherwood, and, this over, 

 it was incumbent upon me to look around for the gov- 

 ernment to which I was accredited. 



From the time of the conquest Guatimala had re- 

 mained in a state of profound tranquillity as a colony 

 of Spain. The Indians submitted quietly to the author- 

 ity of the whites, and all bowed to the divine right of 

 the Romish Church. In the beginning of the present 

 century a few scattering rays of light penetrated to the 

 heart of the American Continent • and in 1823 the 



