350 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



some were ornamented with paintings. Several had 

 chalked in red on each side of the door the figure of a 

 soldier, with his musket shouldered and bayonet fixed, 

 large as life and stiff as a martinet. But all imperfec- 

 tions were hidden by rows of trees on both sides of the 

 road, many of them bearing beautiful flowers, which in 

 some places completely imbowered the houses. The 

 fields were cultivated with sugarcane, and every house 

 had its little trapiche or sugarmill ; and there were 

 marks of carriage-wheels, and very soon we heard a ve- 

 hicle approaching. The creaking of its wheels made al- 

 most as much noise as the Zillenthal Patent Cold Amal- 

 gamating Machine in the mountain of Aguacate. They 

 were made of a cut, about ten or twelve inches thick, 

 from the trunk of a Guanacaste tree, with a hole in the 

 centre, which played upon the axle almost ad libitum, 

 and made the most mournful noise that can be conceiv- 

 ed. The body was constructed of sugarcane ; it was 

 about four feet high, and drawn by oxen fastened by 

 the horns instead of the neck. 



At the entry of Alihuela I stopped to inquire for one 

 bearing a name immortal in the history of the Spanish 

 conquest. It was the name of Alvarado. Whether he 

 was a descendant or not I do not know, nor did he ; and 

 strange to say, though I met several bearing that name, 

 not one attempted to trace his lineage to the conqueror. 

 Don Ramon Alvarado, however, was recommended to me 

 for qualities which allied him in character with his great 

 namesake. He was the courier of the English Mining 

 Company for Serapequea and the River St. Juan, one 

 of the wildest roads in all Central America. 



Next to the advantage of the sea voyage, my princi- 

 pal object in leaving Zonzonate was to acquire some 

 information in regard to the canal route between the 



