ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 85 
or going anywhere ; but for all that she got us a good 
breakfast. Our horses were used up, and our boy could 
get no others. An appeal to the alcalde brought one 
poor horse ; but all our further efforts were answered by 
manana (to-morrow), — that word so hateful to an active 
man, but universal here. As we had a very comfortable 
house to pass the night in, we made ourselves easy, and 
started to explore the town. On our way in I had seen 
an attractive spring a short distance from the road, and 
I went alone to explore it, taking a calabash I had just 
purchased for a drinking-vessel. A well-worn path led 
across a meadow, and a sudden turn brought me upon a 
party of women in exceedingly slight apparel, bathing 
and washing in a little pool into which the spring emp¬ 
tied through a spout. These naiads were most of them 
young; but one old woman, a foul-visaged hag, scowled 
savagely upon me, while the others giggled as I quietly 
handed my calabash to the prettiest, and asked her to 
give me a drink of water, which she caught from the 
high spout with skill and without hesitation, although 
the action exhibited her form in all its beauty. How I 
wanted my camera! 
Stuck in the muddy road was a train of ox-carts, and 
the oxen from seven or eight were yoked to the head 
cart; and when that was dragged out of the slough to 
a camping-place, the next and all the rest were treated 
the same way. We wandered about town between the 
showers, saw lime-kilns, a lead-mine, and several pot¬ 
teries, and at last came to the church, — a more consid¬ 
erable building than we had yet seen in Central America. 
The door was tied with a leather shoestring, and there 
was no resident priest. The images seemed, to our 
