from quezaltenango to THE PACIFIC. 165 
three dollars. We had a second-class carriage, as the 
only first-class carriage is reserved for the President. 
At the station, in the lowest part of the town, the height 
above sea-level is eleven hundred feet; and for the first 
three miles out the grade is rather steep. The remaining 
twenty-five miles offered no difficulties in road-building; 
hut the culverts and bridges are fast decaying, and as 
they are not promptly repaired, the road is not safe. 
The run was made in two hours, — certainly not a high 
rate of speed. There were fine views of the volcanoes, 
and some interesting scenes at the stations. As we 
approached the coast the line crossed several shallow 
lagoons, and the country looked low and uninviting. 
I did not, however, see evidence of much ill-health 
among the natives, although the manners and customs 
were loose enough. The railroad (ferro-carril) ended in 
a respectable station in San Jose, at the head of a 
fine iron pier extending some six hundred feet into the 
sea, — beyond the surf, but not where vessels can come 
alongside. 
We had seen the Pacific the day before as we rode from 
Antigua, and it was, as always, a welcome sight to me, 
for some of the pleasantest years of my life have been 
passed on its shores or on its islands. To-day its waves 
rolled up on the sand in so inviting a way that as soon 
as we had found the hotel on the beach and ordered 
almuerzo, we returned to the pier, and, under its shelter, 
stripped and waded in. The rollers took us off our feet; 
and as large sharks were snuffing about just outside the 
iron piles of the pier, within a few yards of us, we had a 
sufficiently exciting bath. I have never seen such large 
sharks before, even in the shark-haunted shores of the 
