THE CHIEF OF THE STATE. 



359 



an appearance of business unusual in this lethargic 

 country ; and there was one house in the plaza which 

 showed that the owner had been abroad, and had re- 

 turned with his mind so liberalized as to adopt the im- 

 provements of other countries, and build differently 

 from the custom of his fathers and the taste of his 

 neighbours. 



My first visit of ceremony was to Senor Carillo, the 

 Gefe del Estado. The State of Costa Rica enjoy- 

 ed at that time a degree of prosperity unequalled by 

 any in the disjointed confederacy. At a safe distance, 

 without wealth enough to excite cupidity, and with a 

 large tract of wilderness to protect it against the march 

 of an invading army, it had escaped the tumults and 

 wars which desolated and devastated the other states. 

 And yet, but two years before, it had had its own rev- 

 olution : a tumultuous soldiery entered the plaza, and 

 shouting A bas De Aguila, Viva Carillo, my friend Don 

 Manuel was driven out by bayonets and banished from 

 the state, and Carillo installed in his place ; he appoint- 

 ed his father-in-law, a quiet, respectable old man, vice- 

 chief ; called the soldiery, officers, civil and military, 

 into the plaza, and all went through the solemn farce 

 of swearing fealty to the Constitution. The time fixed 

 by the Constitution for holding new elections came, but 

 they were not permitted to be held ; having tried this 

 once and failed, he does not mean to run the risk of an- 

 other ; and probably he will hold on till he is turned out 

 by the same force that put him in. In the mean time, 

 he uses prudent precautions : does not permit emigres, 

 nor revolutionists, nor suspected persons from other 

 states to enter his dominions ; has sealed up the press, 

 and imprisons or banishes, under pain of death if they 

 return, all who speak loud against the government. 



