392 



INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL. 



point, and then I was more indifferent. After all, why- 

 should I wait ? Nicolas said we could get our clothes 

 washed in Nicaragua. I walked out of doors, and 

 resolved that it was folly to lose the chance of ex- 

 amining a canal route for the belle of Guanacaste. I 

 hurried through my preparations, and bade her, I may- 

 say, an affectionate farewell. There is not the least 

 chance that I shall ever see her again. Living in a se- 

 cluded town, unknown beyond the borders of its own 

 unknown state, between the Andes and Pacific Ocean, 

 probably she is already the happy wife of some worthy 

 townsman, and has forgotten the stranger who owes to 

 her some of the happiest moments he passed in Central 

 America. 



It was now broad daylight. It was very rare that I 

 had left a place with so much regret ; but I turned my 

 sorrow into anger, and wreaked it upon Nicolas and the 

 guide. The wind was very high, and, sweeping over 

 the great plain, raised such clouds of dust as made ri- 

 ding both disagreeable and difficult. This ought to 

 have had some effect in restoring my equanimity, but it 

 did not. All day we had on our right the grand range 

 of Cordilleras, and crowning it at this point the great 

 volcanoes of Rincon and Orosi. From thence a vast 

 plain, over which the wind swept furiously, extended to 

 the sea. At one o'clock we came in sight of the haci- 

 enda of Santa Teresa, standing on a great elevation, 

 and still a long way before us. The hacienda was the 

 property of Don Augustin Gutierres of San Jose, and, 

 with two others, was under the charge of his son Don 

 Manuel. A letter from his father had advised him of 

 my coming, and he received me as an old acquaintance. 

 The situation of the house was finer than that of any I 

 had seen. It was high, and commanded a view of an 



