214 
GUATEMALA. 
as in that of the Polochic, and not until we approached 
Los Amates did we come to the forest. In many places 
banana or plantain suckers had got entangled in the 
bushes overhanging the banks or on shoals, and were 
rooting and growing. The river is about a hundred 
yards wide at Los Amates, where we landed after a canoa 
voyage of five hours and a half. The steep bank was 
muddy, and the whole town likewise, as far as we could 
see. Four open-walled reed huts shelter all the inhabi¬ 
tants, both man and beast. The view riverwards was 
attractive, as the river seemed the only way out of this 
forest-environed spot. We walked into the woods on the 
trail northward to El Mico, about three quarters of a 
league; here the ground was utterly water-soaked, and 
w r e saw nothing interesting except two humming-birds 
having a bitter duel. They were so absorbed in their 
deadly hatred that we stood some minutes within arm’s 
length without interrupting them. Near the houses the 
manaca-palms overspread the path in most perfect Gothic 
arches, forming groined vaults of living green. Our 
comida was tolerable; but flies and mosquitoes were 
abundant, so were dogs and pigs, and there were 
many chickens with their wings turned inside out and 
their feathers put on the wrong way. We could throw 
stones at the dogs without attracting notice; but I 
found the people evidently did not like to have the 
pigs insulted. 
Our senora was a curious specimen, all skin and bones, 
clad in a scant dress, a large straw hat, and apparently 
nothing else, and smoking an ever-burning cigar. At 
night she put us on a shelf of slim bambus that would 
not bear our weight standing, though they made a fairly 
