Chap. XI. 
THE MALINCHE, OR GUACAMAYO. 
181 
over the gulf and the coast to the westward, with its high 
mountains, is to be obtained. The splendid Poinciana 
pulcherrima, in a yellow and scarlet variety, forms a thicket 
of shrubbery on this elevation. This beautiful plant, called 
Malinche in Nicaragua, bears the name of Guacamayo in 
Honduras. Both names have a historical, and, it may be 
said, a poetical interest; the former being the name of the 
Indian mistress of Hernando Cortez, while the latter is 
originally that given to the large red parrot, called Ara 
and Lapa in other parts of South and Central America — 
a bird which, with the Maya Indians of Yucatan, seems to 
have been sacred, and dedicated to the sun. 1 On the 
highest point of the eminence a flagstaff is raised, and a 
guard kept to signalize vessels coming in sight. In former 
times this guard was stationed on the summit of one of the 
higher hills in the rear, but the men were so often devoured 
by the jaguars that the post had to be abandoned. These 
ferocious beasts are by no means rare in the vicinity of 
Omoa even now ; and one of them, not many years ago, 
ventured into the very streets of the town. 
Immediately behind the place steep hills, covered with 
primitive forest, begin, and form a wilderness almost im- 
penetrable. A little river flows down from between the 
mountains. One day, in company with a friend, I tried to 
follow its course for five or six miles. For half the dis- 
tance we suffered no other inconvenience than that of being 
compelled to pass several times through the water from 
one side to the other. Higher up, however, the density of 
vegetation on the banks would not allow us to proceed 
1 At Itzamal there "was a temple 
dedicated to Kinich Kakmo, an idol 
fashioned like the snn, with the beak 
of a bird : he was surrounded by rays 
of fire, and descended to burn the 
offered sacrifice at mid-day, as the 
vacamuya — a bright-feathered parrot — 
descends in its flight." Fancourt, His- 
tory of Yucatan, pp. 124, 125. 
