104 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. YII.— B. S. 
an opportunity of encouraging foreign commerce and 
enterprise. 
Early in the morning, I generally went with Don 
Antonio Silva, a Guatemalan gentleman, who held the 
office of Minister of Culture, to bathe in the lake or 
rather lagoon of Tiscapa, which is about a mile and a 
half from town, and occupies the bottom of a deep 
crater-like valley, surrounded by trees. An Indian 
tradition asserts, that once upon a time, this lagoon 
was brought from Salvador in a gourd-shell. If so, it 
must have been a pretty large one, and difficult to 
carry. But what of that ? Once call fancy to your 
aid, and all things are easy of accomplishment. Tis¬ 
capa is said to be inhabited by only one alligator, and 
has no known outlet. The water is generally very 
clear, but at times it becomes turbid and smells badly, 
in fact, undergoes fermentation, or, as the people ex¬ 
press it, “ gets sick.” Whilst the sickness lasts, the 
inhabitants carefully avoid all contact with the la¬ 
goon ; but no sooner has the water assumed its usual 
appearance, than men and women flock to it for wash¬ 
ing and bathing purposes, and there is, especially early 
in the mornings, rather an animated scene. Women, 
old and young, of all colours, and in a state of almost 
absolute nudity, are busy washing clothes on large flat 
stones; men swimming about, or sitting on their rugs 
and pillons preparatory for a plunge into the cooling 
water; horses and mules are driven in to be bathed 
at the same time as their masters. If Tiscapa were a 
little nearer to town, it would be visited much more 
than it is, as the place is really very pretty. But it is 
