A GROUP OF ISLANDS. 
159 
We here found an American, Mr. Priest, of Philadelphia, 
who had just entered a convent; not, however, with a view to 
taking the veil, but to take down the superfluous crosses and 
ornaments, preparatory to converting the building into a hotel. 
The building had attained the advanced age of two hundred 
and forty years; it seemed almost sacrilege to divest it of its 
ornaments. The natives were accustomed to seeing priests 
enter convents, but they looked upon the demonstrations of our 
Philadelphia Priest with a suspicious eye. 
In Spanish America, a horse that is led through the street is 
always considered 11 up” for sale. We hired a muchacho to lead 
ours through Grenada, and soon had several applicants. One, 
wishing to try him, mounted, and the horse being thirsty, 
walked very deliberately down to the lake, and waded in until 
the water came up to his sides. After remaining for a certain 
length of time, the rider pulled on the reins, and invited the 
horse to step ashore; but, no—he was perfectly satisfied with 
his situation, and did not wish to change it. He applied the 
spurs—the horse appeared to have fallen into a quiet slumber; 
he swore in Spanish, but it was of no use. There was no alter¬ 
native but to dismount, and wade or swim ashore. He reached 
the shore in safety, but did not buy the horse. We offered him 
to Mr. Priest for six dollars, including saddle, bridle, and spurs. 
He offered two, at which price we u closed him out.” 
Our first efforts were directed to hiring conveyance to San 
Carlos and San Juan ; we applied to Mr. Derbyshire, an English 
merchant from Jamaica, and succeeded in hiring a bungo of suf¬ 
ficient capacity to carry our party of fifteen, including baggage. 
There were two other bungoes , hired by Americans that were 
to be our company down ; and after a protracted and vexatious 
detention of two days, the time of starting arrived. We now, 
however, had a new and unexpected difficulty to encounter, the 
boatmen refused to go on board ; but after a long parley, a com¬ 
plaint was' lodged with the Alcalde, who ordered out a file of 
soldiers, they forming in line along the river bank to protect 
the agents, while they were whipping the boatmen on board. 
At length the oars were plied, and we shot out into the lake, 
and laid our course for a group of islands three miles distant, 
in order to lay in a stock of plantains for the voyage. This 
