314 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



heard an uproar in the street, and a man ran in to tell 

 us that a mob was murdering our muleteer. The cap- 

 tain, a frequent visiter to the country, said it was prob-. " 

 ably a general machete fight, and cautioned us against 

 going out. While in the corridor, hesitating, the up- 

 roar was hurrying toward us ; the gate hwe€t open, and 

 a crowd rushed in, dragging with them our muleteer, 

 that respectable husband and father, with his machete 

 drawn, and so tipsy that he could hardly stand, but 

 wanted to fight all the world. With difficulty we got 

 him entangled among some saddle-gear, when he drop- 

 ped down, and, after vain efforts to rise, fell asleep. 



I woke the next morning with violent headache and 

 pain in all my bones. Nevertheless, we started at day- 

 light, and rode till five o'clock. The sun and heat in- 

 creased the pain in my head, and for three hours before 

 reaching Escuintla I was in great suffering. I avoid- 

 ed going to the corregidor's, for I knew that his sleep- 

 ing apartment was open to all who came, and I wanted 

 quiet ; but I made a great mistake in stopping at the 

 house of the captain's friend. He was the proprietor 

 of an estanco or distillery for making agua ardiente, 

 and gave us a large room directly back of a store, and 

 separated from it by a low board partition open over 

 the top ; and this store was constantly filled with noisy, 

 wrangling, and drinking men and women. My bed 

 was next to the partition, and we had eight or ten men 

 in our room. All night I had a violent fever, and in 

 the morning I was unable to move. Captain De Nou- 

 velle regretted it, but he could not wait, as his ship was 

 ready to lie off" and on without coming to anchor. Mr. 

 Catherwood had me removed to a storeroom filled with 

 casks and demijohns, where, except from occasional 



