GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 
197 
loose rocks, — making the passage very difficult. We 
had not gone two leagues from Santa Catarina before 
darkness came on, and w T e camped by the roadside. A 
cheery fire and our blankets made the camp very com¬ 
fortable, and the little child was quiet all night, — not 
civilized enough, Frank declared, to cry instead of sleep. 
The dew-fall was very heavy; it is probably always 
so at this dry season. 
We were up at light, and sent the men to find water 
while we got the fire burning and made coffee. With 
honey and wheaten rolls w r e breakfasted well, — indeed, 
our out-door life in this good climate made us feel at 
peace w 7 ith all men, and satisfied — nay, pleased — with 
everything that befell us. The morning was cloudy; but 
we knew the clouds did not mean rain at this season, and 
we were in the saddle before the dew was quite dried from 
our blankets. As we went along we several times passed 
black obsidian chips, some recent, but most of them quite 
old, — evidently the refuse of the knife-makers, whose 
work in ancient times was much in demand; the long, 
slim blades used in circumcision were never used but 
once, then consecrated in the temples or broken; and 
those knives used for other purposes were of course brit¬ 
tle, and soon destroyed. 
We arrived at Agua Blanca about eight o’clock, and 
stopped to feed our bestias on cornstalks and squashes. 
The former were kept high up in the trees, which neither 
cows nor pigs could climb, while the squashes in endless 
variety nearly filled a small house, through whose bambu 
walls the wandering hogs could smell the coveted food. 
The town is appropriately named “White Water,” for 
the only supply was very milky in appearance and very 
