Chap. V. HOT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 65 
qualities. The whole place has the smell of sulphuretted 
hydrogen, and the mineral incrustations around the spring 
are impregnated with sulphur. The taste of the water, 
which is boiling, corresponds to this chemical character ; 
but the sulphurous element is less strong than might be 
expected. Besides this, the taste is sweet, and has much 
the savour of broth, so general in a certain class of hot 
mineral waters. I drank from this spring copiously before 
my breakfast, and experienced a very pleasant sensation from 
it, as if I had taken a plate of soup or a good cup of coffee. 
Close to this hot sulphur spring is another of pure cold 
water, and cold and hot springs seem to exist close together 
in the old river-bed. I shot a cormorant, which fell into a 
pool of cold water filling a basin in the channel. When I 
sent my servant in to fetch the bird, his feet suddenly 
encountered a hot spring in the midst of the cold water, 
and were nearly scalded. Below the step of rock which 
had formed the fall, was a deep basin filled with warm 
water, in which I intended to bathe, when I saw some 
small alligators rise from the bottom and then disappear 
again. On a rock in the midst of this pool sat an iguana 
of the size of a boy ten years old, the largest specimen of 
this repulsive kind of lizard I have ever seen. I was 
previously unaware of the fact that these animals can 
swim. 
Strolling about at this interesting locality, I spent a day 
at Tipitapa. The following day was to be the festival of 
" our Lord of Esquipulas," who has a sanctuary at this 
place, and from all directions the inhabitants of the neigh- 
bouring country arrived, until in the evening Tipitapa had 
the aspect of a gay and crowded fair. After dark the 
people were amused by a theatrical entertainment in which 
priests were the actors. The subject was a clownish repro- 
