252 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



and affection, followed to the door, and continued fare- 

 well greetings and cautions to take good care of her- 

 self, which the lady answered as long as we were 

 within hearing. We called at two or three other 

 houses, and then all assembled at the place of rendez- 

 vous. The courtyard was full of horses, with every va- 

 riety of fanciful mountings. Although we were going 

 only nine miles, and to a large Indian village, it was 

 necessary to carry beds, bedding, and provisions. A 

 train of servants large enough to carry stores for a small 

 military expedition was sent ahead, and we all started. 

 Outside the gate all the anxieties and perils which 

 slumbered in the city were forgotten. Our road lay 

 over an extensive plain, seeming, as the sun went down 

 behind the volcanoes of Agua and Fuego, a beautiful 

 bowling-green, in which our party, preceded by a long 

 file of Indians with loads on their backs, formed a 

 picture. I was surprised to find that the ladies were 

 not good horsewomen. They never ride for pleasure, 

 and, on account of the want of accommodation on the 

 road, seldom travel. 



It was after dark when we reached the borders of 

 a deep ravine separating the plain from Mixco. We 

 descended, and, rising on the other side, emerged from / 

 the darkness of the ravine into an illuminated street, 

 and, at two or three horses' lengths, into a plaza bla- 

 zing with lights and crowded with people, nearly all 

 Indians in holyday costume. In the centre of the plaza 

 was a fine fountain, and at the head of it a gigantic 

 church. We rode up to the house that had been pro- 

 vided for the ladies, and, leaving them there, the gen- 

 tlemen scattered to find lodgings for themselves. The 

 door of every house was open, and the only question 

 asked was whether there was room. Some of the 



