FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 
Ill 
■—doubtless a precaution against earthquakes. We saw 
a great deal of pottery, and anona-trees were on all sides; 
but the full-grown fruit was not ripe. We felt so provoked 
at our waste of time at the first village (whose true name 
we never learned) that we did not care to stop here, but 
rode out of the town through a deep artificial ravine. 
San Miguel Uspantan has some nine hundred inhabitants, 
who weave cotton from the lowlands and wool from their 
numerous flocks; and it is from the mines near by that 
all the silver was obtained for the vessels of the church, 
— so says tradition. Ruined walls and broken aqueducts 
attest the former importance of the place under the 
Quiche rule. 
The road became a mere trail until we came to Pericon,, 
— a village of two hundred inhabitants, whose only indus¬ 
try is wool-dyeing ; and from this we climbed the pine-clad 
hills to a height of over seven thousand feet, where we 
came suddenly upon a fine view of Cunen, directly west, 
but several leagues away, across a valley twelve hundred 
feet deep. I wanted a photograph; but the sun was in 
our faces, we could not spare the time, the day was almost 
done, and we had a difficult descent before us. Although 
we did not delay? it was long after dark when we rode 
into Cunen and found the Plaza, where we were assigned 
a good room in a confiscated monastery or church build¬ 
ing. We had a mahogany bench fifteen feet long and 
sixteen inches wide for our bed, and a good table and 
several chairs abundantly furnished our apartment. We 
had our own candles and coffee; but no other food was 
to be had except some ears of green corn which we had 
picked by the way for our animals, but which we were 
fain to eat ourselves when Santiago had scorched them by 
