FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 105 
Barrios, now in the charge of an old schoolmate of his, 
Juan Prado. There both sugar and coffee were culti¬ 
vated, and much fine imported stock kept. It was but 
one of the many fincas belonging to the President, where 
he has endeavored to improve the agricultural stand¬ 
ard of his country and the native stock as well. The 
cane was of the ribbon variety, and of fair quality; but 
the mill was simply a vertical twenty-inch iron roll- 
mill turned by four oxen. There was but one open 
kettle, with no clarifier; and the inspissated syrup was 
run into wooden moulds and cooled into very dark hemi¬ 
spherical blocks ( panela ), — a form of sugar much in 
demand among the Indios. 
Senor Prado received us most hospitably, and set be¬ 
fore us bananas, anonas, and limas, or sweet lemons; 
then brought us large glasses of a warm liquid made 
from rice and sugar, — not at all to our taste, although 
a favorite drink of the mozos. The buildings at the 
President’s finca were neither pleasant nor convenient; 
but a large roof, substantially framed, was being walled 
in with hewn pine-planks three inches thick, each plank 
representing an entire tree. In this building men were 
grating off the juicy pulp of the coffee-berry in rude 
machines; after this pulping the berries are washed, 
and spread in the sun to dry. 
We here learned that we could not cross the Chixoy 
(pronounced chisoy ) River that afternoon, as the wire 
suspension-bridge had been swept away the last year, and 
the man whose duty it was to haul travellers across on 
lopes would not be there so late in the dav; we were con- 
sequently obliged to yield to the importunities of our host 
and stay over night at Primavera. To entertain us, in 
