GUATEMALA. 
68 
the Lago de Izabal the shores approach each other closely, 
_indeed, the channel is hardly a stone’s cast broad; and 
on the northern point stands the fort built in 1655 to 
protect the then important commerce of Izabal from the 
buccaneers. 1 It is well built of round (uncut) stone, 
and the waves of the lago dash against the walls, which 
are gradually yielding to the insinuating roots of many 
plants, —even a delicate blue commelyna joining in the 
attack that the seventeenth-century pirates began in vain. 
The van of this vegetable scaling-party was led by a fine 
papaya (Carica papaya), which now towered far above the 
walls with its head of ornamental leaves, but which per¬ 
ished soon after ; and we saw only the bare stem on our 
return, three months later. 
Passing this mediaeval ruin, we came to a slight wharf 
of stakes, where we had to undergo a rigid inspection by 
the guarda, who insisted on opening our trunks, in spite 
of a slight shower that was wetting us. But we submitted 
with better grace on reflecting how little amusement of 
any sort the custom-house men could have in this sleepy 
looking place; and when the nonsense was over we sent 
Santiago with the coffee-pot, which he was told to have 
boiled over somebody’s fire. He was also told to get all 
the food he could find; and this useless wretch brought 
back, as the total result of his foraging, three eggs! 
Coconut-trees and goyavas were abundant, but no fruit 
could be found. After this very frugal breakfast, — m 
which we did not ask Santiago to join, — we -walked to 
the little Comandancia; but the officials were not visible) 
1 Its armament was approved by the Royal Seal, Nov. 7, 1658, and an 
order of Feb. 26, 1687, provided for its complete repair. The plan is from a 
sketch by F. E. Blaisdell. 
