VISIT TO LA ANTIGUA. 



265 



same spirit in which a Frenchman, who had been en- 

 tertained hospitably in a country house in England, of- 

 fered himself to seven of the daughters, merely for the 

 compliment. And my worthy friend would have been 

 very much astonished if I had accepted his offer. 



The road to Mixco I have already described. In 

 the village I stopped to see Chico. His hand had 

 been cut off, and he was doing well. Leaving the vil- 

 lage, we ascended a steep mountain, from the top of 

 which we had a fine view of the village at its foot, the 

 plain and city of Guatimala, and the Lake of Amati- 

 tan, enclosed by a belt of mountains. Descending by 

 a wild and rugged road, we reached a plain, and saw 

 on the left the village of San Pablo, and on the right, at 

 some distance, another village. We then entered a 

 piece of woodland, and first ascending, then again de- 

 scended by the precipitous side of a mountain, with a 

 magnificent ravine on our right, to a beautiful stream. 

 At this place mountains rose all around us ; but the 

 banks of the stream were covered with delicate flowers, 

 and parrots with gay plumage were perched on the 

 trees and flying over our heads, making, in the midst 

 of gigantic scenery, a fairy spot. The stream passed 

 between two ranges of mountains so close together that 

 there was barely room for a single horsepath by its side. 

 As we continued the mountains turned to the left, and 

 on the other side of the stream were a few openings, 

 cultivated with cochineal, into the very hollow of the 

 base. Again the road turned and then ran straight, 

 making a vista of more than a mile between the mount- 

 ains, at the end of which was the Antigua, standing in 

 a delightful valley, shut in by mountains and hills that 

 always retain their verdure, watered by two rivers that 

 supply numerous fountains, with a climate in which heat 

 Vol. I.— L l 23 



