38 DOTTINGS BY THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. III.—B. S. 
He was a man full of intelligence, and I was glad to 
avail myself of his land offer to allow me to go to 
Embarquito in his boat. We started that very night 
when the tide suited, and hoped to have the benefit 
of the full moon, hut in that we were disappointed, 
as there happened to be a total eclipse, of which no¬ 
body had thought. However, we reached Embarquito 
about two o’clock in the morning, and were glad to 
get a hot cup of coffee, for even in this tropical climate 
we felt quite chilled through. Half an hour after¬ 
wards we mounted our mules, and rode as hard as we 
could in order to get to Leon before daybreak. The 
eclipse being now past, the road was easily followed, 
when not overshaded by trees. It was a beautiful 
night, and the stillness was only broken now and then 
by the creaking of carts, which slowly crawled either 
from or towards the port, raising clouds of dust, and 
the voices of the drivers uttering oaths and curses to 
make the bullocks proceed. The construction of these 
carts is most primitive, and probably dates from 
Anno I. There are only two huge wheels, cut out of 
the solid tree. One meets a goodly number of them 
between Leon and Granada, and they generally travel 
during the night when the air is cool, and the bullocks 
draw better than during the hot parts of the day. 
We reached Leon at seven o’clock in the morning, 
rather tired, and found the street thickly strewn with 
roses, frangipanis (. Plumierias ), oleanders, and other 
scented flowers, the remnants of recent religious pro¬ 
cessions. I put up at the European Hotel, kept by 
Captain Cauty, and one of the few good houses of 
