112 VIRGIN BAY. Book I. 
short duration, the swelling very slight and soon passed 
away, and the consequences were less severe than I have 
known to follow from the bite of as many mosquitos. On 
another occasion the report of a gun produced the same 
effect in exciting the wrath of a swarm of w T asps. I shot a 
bird, when a companion of mine who stood near raised such 
a cry that in the first moment I thought I had shot him. 
His terror, however, was caused by the sudden attack of a 
swarm of wasps rushing from their nest immediately after 
the shot had been fired. 
At that time no habitation existed at the place called 
Bakia de la Virgen, or Virgin Bay. The name was 
simply applied to a little indenture of the shore of the lake. 
The beach, here, is a bed of black lava. In 1855 the 
little town built since the period of my first visit consisted 
of a number of wooden houses, all of them being hotels, 
forming a single street which runs straight down to the 
landing place of the lake steamers. The largest building was 
that of the Transit Company, containing the offices, store- 
rooms, and residence of their agent. From the shallow- 
ness of the water the steamers cannot come close to the 
shore, and as the lake has generally a very heavy surf 
here, the embarking as well as disembarking of some 
hundred passengers was connected with considerable incon- 
veniences. At the landing place speculating girls with 
brown faces and black eyes had established their stalls for 
the sale of chocolate, coffee, lemonade, liquors, oranges, 
pine-apples, and other fruits of the country. The town, at 
that time, was the dearest and most inhospitable place I 
have ever heard of. For as much room on the bare floor 
in one of the hotels as I wanted to lie upon for the night, 
without any other accommodation, I had to pay three 
dollars. Outside of the house was a wooden bench of 
