216 
GUATEMALA. 
drop in. For two hours we went on in this way, stopping 
only to rifle a turtle’s nest of fourteen small eggs (less in 
size than a pullet’s). We then turned to the left and 
came to the Quirigua river, — which more resembled a 
creek; and here my heart sank, for I have a great dread 
of black waters and muddy bottoms. Santiago waded in 
first, and I followed close on the little mule; and we all 
crossed safely, our mozo leading his wife by the hand 
with great care. Once in the thick forest, our guide did 
his best to empty a generous bottle of aguardiente he 
had brought with him; so that within an hour he knew 
very little about the road, or anything else useful. Cohune 
and similar palms were on all sides, and w T e first saw 
here the pacaya (Euterpe edulis ?\ — a slender palm with 
edible pods or buds. Enormous trees with buttresses — 
even the goyava took this form here — were prominent 
among the lower palms, and ginger and wild bananas 
bordered the rather indefinite path, which we had con¬ 
stantly to clear of vejucos and fallen palm-leaves. Many 
round holes, as large as a flour-barrel, showed where 
palm-stumps had been eaten out by insects. 
A little brook with chalybeate waters cost us both a 
> wetting; for Frank’s mare stuck in a mud-hole, and my 
mule slid down a steep bank backwards into the water, 
soaking my saddlebags. After travelling three hours on 
this muddy road, we came to a clearing, where were two 
large champas fast going to ruin. Mr. A. P. Maudslay, 
an Englishman who has spent much labor and money in 
exploring Gruatemaltecan antiquities, had been here twice, 
and not only cleared a considerable space around the 
principal monuments, but had cleaned the stones, and 
even made moulds in plaster of some of them; he had 
