88 
GUATEMALA. 
one of the giants of this great and widely spread family. 
Crimson lobelias (like cardinal-flowers) with red stems, 
crenulate leaves, and a very unpleasant odor, were com¬ 
mon. The road was badly gullied, and the nightly rains 
had made the Polochic, which still kept at our side, an 
angry looking torrent quite unfordable. The grades of 
the road were good, and showed engineering skill and 
constant care; but for all this my horse broke down 
before noon, as I had expected, and our boy, after some 
consultation with the drivers of a mule-train we passed, 
captured a stray mule for me and turned the horse 
loose. All the horses here seem so feeble, and many 
of the mules so sore, that I seriously thought of cap¬ 
turing one of the powerful bulls feeding peaceably by 
the path, and riding him in true African style; blit 
Frank earnestly dissuaded me, so we had to walk half 
the time to save our wretched hacks. 
Through the mud we rode into Tactic, four leagues 
farther on, at half-past one o’clock. The barometer 
recorded 4,650 feet; but this was not high enough to 
insure dry roads at this season. The town, of some 
thirteen hundred inhabitants, seemed prosperous; the 
houses were of a better class than any we had yet seen, 
and the gardens were full of fruit-trees and vegetables. 
Tree-abutilons, both pink and crimson, were covered with 
blossoms, and peach-trees bore both blossoms and unripe 
fruit. The roads were quite too muddy for foot-travel, 
except in native undress. The corridors of the houses 
generally had carved posts and lintels, and the central 
tile of the ridge was usually fashioned into a cross, with 
two lambs or doves as supporters. The casa municipal 
was a noteworthy building. In gardens we saw fine 
