Chap. VII. GOTHIC BLOOD. 99 
surrounding the cone. I have already mentioned this 
kind of local precipitation in reference to the summit of 
the Mombacho. During the five days of my sojourn, I 
never saw the summit uncovered for a single moment. 
Another observation I made during this time was that of 
the regular gusts of wind which poured down the side of 
the mountain every evening. As to the peak of Madera, 
I cannot tell whether it exhibits the same phenomena in 
an equally regular manner. From a distance, however, I 
have seen it capped with a similar cloud, and this is occa- 
sionally the case with the summit of mount Mombacho. 
I found considerable difficulty in engaging a canoe to bring 
me to San Jorge, an Indian village on the neighbouring 
main, which may be called the port of Eivas. At that 
time of the year it was very easy to go there, and the 
transit could be made in little more than an hour ; but this 
rendered it the more difficult to return, and canoes from 
the island have often to wait many days at San Jorge 
before a temporary subsidence of the trade-wind will allow 
them to effect a home-passage. 
I brought a letter to a man of distinction amongst the 
inhabitants of the village. His features, though intelligent 
in expression, bespoke the Indian with a mixture of negro 
blood in his lineage. His wife, on the contrary, was a tall 
ladylike woman of very fine appearance and noble de- 
meanour, and altogether so superior to everything around 
her that she seemed to be a stranger mingled with the 
vulgar denizens of the place. The truth was that she be- 
longed to a family of pure Spanish, and perhaps I might 
say of Gothic, descent. The last remnants of this element, 
if any such be left even now, will soon be lost in the pro- 
gressing mixture of races in Central America. 
The road from San Jorge to Eivas leads through the 
h 2 
