GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 
191 
were. We did not arrive at the chief town of the Depart¬ 
ment of Santa Rosa, Cuajinicuilapa, — or Cuilapa, as it is 
often abbreviated,—until nine o’clock. Here we found a 
wretched posada, where we shared our room with an enor¬ 
mous cockroach an inch wide and two and three quarter 
inches long. Although we had a letter to the Jefe from 
the Department of State, we did not care to wait in the 
morning for him to get up; so after climbing into the 
church-tower and over the roof, we rode on to the fine 
old bridge over the Rio de los Esclavos. This, consisting 
of ten masonry arches spanning a rocky ravine, bears the 
dates 1592-1852. Our path followed the valley for some 
time, and at a convenient place we had a bath in the 
rapid river, whose waters were agreeably cool. As we 
left the river our path led up a very steep ascent 
nearly eighteen hundred feet. On the way we had sev¬ 
eral fine views of the “ Hunapu ” volcanoes, — Pacaya, 
Fuego, Agua, and Acatenango, — clustered together, and in 
the clear atmosphere 
seeming to be close at 
hand. Pacaya seemed 
to have the largest 
crater, while Agua 
had none visible from this side. On the top of this “ lad¬ 
der” we rested our animals on a grassy plain where they 
could pasture. We had noticed cotton-trees (. Bombax ) on 
the way up, and we found some wild pines that the men 
repairing the road had left, and we tracked the fruit, 
which is pleasantly acid, to the pines used here for 
hedging (Bromelia Pinguin). The curious umbrella-ants 
( (Ecodoma ) were common on the path, each carrying its 
bit of leaf wherewith to stock the formicarium. A puff 
Hunapu from the East. 
