224 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



Sentinels were at the door, and eight or ten soldiers 

 basking in the sun outside, part of a body-guard, who 

 had been fitted out with red bombazet jackets and tar- 

 tan plaid caps, and made a much better appearance 

 than any of his soldiers I had before seen. Along the 

 corridor was a row of muskets, bright and in good or- 

 der. We entered a small room adjoining the sala, and 

 saw Carrera sitting at a table counting money. 



Ever since my arrival in the country this name of 

 terror had been ringing in my ears. Mr. Montgomery, 

 to whom I have before referred, and who arrived in 

 Central America about a year before me, says, " An in- 

 surrection, I was told, had taken place among the In- 

 dians, who, under the directions of a man called Car- 

 rera, were ravaging the country and committing all 

 kinds of excesses. Along the coast, and in some of 

 the departments, tranquillity had not been disturbed; 

 but in the interior there was no safety for the traveller, 

 and every avenue to the capital was beset by parties of 

 brigands, who showed no mercy to their victims, espe- 

 cially if they were foreigners ;" and in referring to the 

 posture of affairs at his departure he adds, " It is proba- 

 ble, however, that while this is being written, the active 

 measures of General Morazan for putting down the in- 

 surrection have been successful, and that the career of 

 this rebel hero has been brought to a close." But the 

 career of the rebel hero" was not brought to a close; 

 the " man called Carrera" was now absolute master of 

 Guatimala ; and, if I am not deceived, he is destined 

 to become more conspicuous than any other leader who 

 has yet risen in the convulsions of Spanish America. 



He is a native of one of the wards of Guatimala. 

 His friends, in compliment, call him a mulatto ; I, for 

 the same reason, call him an Indian, considering that 



