AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. 



363 



both ways, were desolate. A single horseman crossing 

 at some distance was an object to fix our attention. 



The day before we had met at San Jose Dr. Brayley, 

 the only foreign resident in Cartago, who had promised 

 to procure a guide, and make arrangements for ascend- 

 ing the Volcano of Cartago ; and we found that, besides 

 doing all that he had promised, he was himself prepared 

 to go with us. While dinner was preparing, Mr. L. and 

 I visited another countryman, Mr. Lovel, a gentleman 

 whom I knew in New- York. He had brought with him 

 a newly-married wife, a young lady from New- York, 

 whom, to my surprise and with great pleasure, I recog- 

 nised as an acquaintance : very slight, it is true ; but the 

 merest personal knowledge, so far from home, was al- 

 most enough to constitute an intimacy. She had en- 

 countered many hardships, and her home was indeed in 

 a strange land ; but she bore all with the spirit of a 

 woman who had given up all for one, and was content 

 with the exchange. Their house was situated on one 

 side of the plaza, commanding a view of the volcano 

 almost from its base to its top, and, though one of the 

 best in the place, the rent was only six dollars per 

 month. 



Immediately after dinner we set out to ascend the 

 volcano. It was necessary to sleep en route, and Mr. 

 Lovel furnished me with a poncha from Mexico for a 

 covering, and a bear's skin from the Rocky Mountains 

 for a bed. 



Passing down the principal street, we crossed in 

 front of the Cathedral, and immediately began to as- 

 cend. Very soon we reached a height which com- 

 manded a view of a river, a village, and an extensive 

 valley not visible from the plain below. The sides of 

 the volcano are particularly favourable for cattle ; and 



