12 
GUATEMALA. 
usually quite potable, was now full of a small green alga, 
and the cast skins of ephemera were so thick on the 
surface that for miles we could with difficulty get a dipper 
of clear water. 
Twice our Caribs thought they had found the mouth of 
the Polochic; and at last, at high noon, we discovered it, 
where we least expected, on a marshy promontory or delta. 
Masses of coarse floating grass were attached to the banks 
on each side, almost blocking the way; and the rapid cur¬ 
rent, which we estimated at five miles an hour, made these 
grass plots wave as if the breezes were playing over their 
tops. Pelicans were abundant and tame; so were the 
iguanas. The air was still, and the thermometer marked 
eighty-five degrees, while the water was much cooler, — 
nine degrees. All the creeks in the lowland flowed from 
the river, so high was the flood, and we found no com¬ 
fortable landing-place. 
At night we anchored in the stream, and the mosquitoes 
were very troublesome ; unlike those on the Chocon, these 
were black, and had very long and sharp lancets. At 
three in the morning we could bear them no longer; 
Orion was in the zenith, and we struck our toldo, the 
men slowly rowing on until six, when we anchored for 
coffee. As we were eating, a cayuco, covered with a neat 
awning of leaves, came rapidly by us on the way down; 
its occupants assured us that there were many vueltas 
(bends) and a great current (mucho corriente ) before we 
should be able to reach Pansos. 
Ten miles a day was the utmost limit of our propelling 
power, and in crossing the bends to escape the current we 
hardly held our own, so strong were the flood-waters. Our 
creeping pace gave us ample time to see, but no time to 
