82 
GUATEMALA. 
contained only one room, a stone cooking-bench 1 at one 
end, and a row of box-like beds along one side. Under 
these several hens were sitting, and two or three dogs 
tried hard to get into a bed, while a colt kept putting 
his head into a window, and finally upset the corn-box. 
There was not much to the town, certainly. The school 
had thirteen pupils, — some bright enough; but the 
church was an insignificant shed. Pasturage was good, 
and we noticed a very large proportion of bulls by the 
roadside ; these were quite as gentle as the cows. 
In the afternoon we crossed, on an iron truss-bridge 
covered with a thatched roof, the Polochic, now a shal¬ 
low but still wide stream. I wished for my camera here, 
— as I had several times since I left Pansos; but we 
were effectually parted until our mozos should overtake 
us at Coban. We had been assured by the blind ladinos 
that there was no interesting scenery on the road. We 
were now constantly ascending, and we passed many 
Indios of the Poconchi tribe, — clean, good-looking, and 
dressed in white, with fanciful designs of darker colors 
sewed on. 
1 Owing to the heavy duty, iron stoves are seldom seen in Guatemala; 
but a structure of stone, where that material is at hand, elsewhere of sticks 
covered with clay, is reared to the height of about two feet. Its size depends, 
of course, on the wants of the household; but large or small, the form is 
always the same. Three suitable stones, forming what would correspond to a 
pot-hole in an ordinary stove, are embedded in the clay-top of this house-altar, 
and the long slim sticks that furnish fuel serve also as poker, shovel, and 
tongs. There is no chimney, but the smoke and steam escape by the many 
cracks in the walls or by the windows. On one stone tripod a comal for tor¬ 
tillas, on another an earthen pitcher of coffee, and on another a stew-pan 
(cazuelci) of frijoles, is the usual kitchen arrangement. Answering its purpose 
as well as a costly stove, it may be built for a few reals; and if an oven is 
needed for bread, a stone and earthen dome built over such a table-like hearth 
makes a capital one, not unlike those so common among the Canadians and in 
other half-civilized countries. 
