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YUCATAN.
BY JOHN 4. STEPHENS,
AUTHOR OF ‘“‘ INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRAIA, AND THE HOLY LAND,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
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HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET.
1841.
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CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
Visit to the Volcano of Masaya.— Village of Masaya.—Lake of Masaya.—Nindi- rii—Ascent of the Volcano.—Account of it.—The Crater.— Descent into it.— Volcano of Nindiri—Ignorance of the People concerning Objects of Interest.— Return to Masaya.—Another Countryman.—Managua.—Lake of Managua.— Fishing.—Beautiful Scenery.—Mateares.—Questa del Relox.—Nagarotis.— Crosses.—A Gamekeeper.—Pueblo Nuevo . : Pn came . Page 7
CHAPTER II.
Beautiful Plain.—Leon.—Stroll through the Town.—Baneful Effects of Party Spirit—Scenes of Horror.—Unpleasant Intelligence.——Journey continued.— A fastidious Beggar.—Chinandaga.—Gulf of Couchagua.—Visit to Realejo.— Cotton Factory.—Harbour of Realejo.—El Viejo.—Port of Nagoscolo.— Im- portance of a Passport.—Embarking Mules.—A Bungo.—Volcano of Cosagui- na.—Eruption of 1835.—La Union... ; Bees _ : . 22
CHAPTER III.
Journey to San Salvador.—A new Companion.—San Alejo.—San Miguel.—War Alarms. — Another Countryman. — State of San Salvador. — River Lempa. — San Vicente.—Volcano of San Vicente.—Thermal Springs.—Cojutepeque.— Arrival at San Salvador.— Prejudice against Foreigners. — Contributions. — Pressgangs.—Vice-president Vigil—T aking of San Miguel and San Vicente. —Rumours of a March upon San Salvador.—Departure from San Salvador 41
CHAPTER IV.
Contributions.—E1 Baranco de Guaramal.—Volcano of Izalco.—Depredations of Rascon.— Zonzonate.—News from Guatimala.—Journey continued.—A guisal- co.—A peneca.—Mountain of Aguachapa.—Subterranean Fires.—Aguachapa.— Defeat of Morazan.—Confusion and Terror . v eae «uta tis ;, 38
' CHAPTER V.
Approach of Carrera’s Forces.—Terror of the Inhabitants.—Their Flight.—Sur-
render of the Town.—Ferocity of the Soldiery.—A Bulletin.—Diplomacy.—A Passport.—A Breakfast.—An Alarm.—The Widow Padilla.—An Attack.—De- feat of Carrera’s Forces.—The Town taken by General Morazan.—His Entry. —The Widow’s Son.—Visit to General Morazan.—His Appearance, Character, &c.—Plans deranged . eee iS ie TG
iv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
Visit from General Morazan.—End of his Career.—Procuring a Guide.—Depar- ture for Guatimala.—Fright of the People-—The Rio Paz.—Hacienda of Pal- mita.—A fortunate Escape.—Hacienda of San José.—An awkward Predica- ment.—A kind Host.—Rancho of Hocotilla—Oratorio and Leon.—Rio de los Esclavos.—The Village.—Approach to Guatimala.—Arrival at Guatimala.—A Sketch of the Wars.—Defeat of Morazan.—Scene of Massacre . Page 93
CHAPTER VII.
Ruins of Quirigua—Visit to them.—Los Amates.—Pyramidal Structure.—A Colossal Head.—An Altar.—A Collection of Monuments.—Statues.—Charac- ter of the Ruins.—A lost City.x—Purchasing a ruined City . 4 . 118
CHAPTER VIII.
Reception at the Government House.—The Captain in Trouble.—A Change of Character.—Arrangements for Journey to Palenque.—Arrest of the Captain.— His Release.—Visit from a Countryman.—Dangers in Prospect.—Last Stroll through the Suburbs.—Hospital and Cemetery of San Juan de Dios.—Fearful State of the Country.—Last Interview with Carrera.—Departure from Guati- mala. —A Don Quixote.— Ciudad Vieja.— Plain of El Vieja.— Volcanoes, Plains, and Villages.—San Andres Isapa.—Dangerous Road.—A Molina . 125
CHAPTER IX.
Journey continued.—Barrancas.—Tecpan Guatimala.—A noble Church.—A sa- - ered Stone.—The ancient City.—Description of the Ruins.—A Molina.—Anoth- er Earthquake-—Patzum.—A Ravine.—Fortifications.—Los Altos. — Godines. —Losing a good Friend.—Magnificent Scenery.—San Antonio.—Lake of Ati- tan 5 “ : 4 : J - : . setts ° . . 146
CHAPTER X.
Lake of Atitan.—Conjectures as to its Origin, &c.—A Sail on the Lake.—A dan- gerous Situation.—A lofty Mountain Range.—Ascent of the Mountains.—Com- manding View.—Beautiful Plain.—An elevated Village.—Ride along the Lake. —Solola.—Visit to Santa Cruz del Quiché.—Scenery on the Road.—Barrancas. —San Thomas.—Whipping-posts.--Plain ef Quiché.—The Village.—Ruins of Quiché.—Its History.—Desolate Scene.—A facetious Cura.—Description of the Ruins.—Plan.—The Royal Palace.—The Place of Sacrifice.—An Image. —Two Heads, &c.—Destruction of the Palacerecent—An Arch . . 161
CHAPTER XI.
Interior of a Convent.—Royal Bird of Quiché.—Indian Languages.—The Lord’s Prayer in the Quiché Language.—Numerals in the same.—Church of Quiché. —Indian Superstitions.—Another lost City——Tuierra de Guerra.—The Abori- ginals.—Their Conversion to Christianity—They were never conquered.—A
&
CONTENTS. Vv
living City.—Indian Tradition respecting this City.—Probably has never been visited by the Whites.—Presents a noble Field for future Enterprise.—Depar- ture.— San Pedro.—Virtue of a Passport.—A difficult Ascent.—Mountain Scenery.—Totonicapan.—An excellent Dinner.—-A Country of Aloes.-—“ River of Blood.”—Arrival at Quezaltenango . : 3 - . Page 189
CHAPTER XII.
Quezaltenango.—Account of it.—Conversion of the Inhabitants to Christianity. —Appearance of the City—The Convent.—Insurrection.—Carrera’s March upon Quezaltenango.—His Treatment of the Inhabitants.—Preparations for Holy Week.—The Church.—A Procession.—Good Friday.—Celebration of the Resurrection.—Opening Ceremony.—The Crucifixion.—A Sermon.— Descent from the Cross.—Grand Procession.—Church of El Calvario.—The Case of the Cura.—Warm Springs of Almolonga . , : ‘ , : - 203
CHAPTER XIII.
Journey continued.—A Mountain Plain.— Lost Guides. — A trying Moment, — Agua Calientes.—A magnificent View.— Gold Ore.— San Sebastiano.— Gue- guetenango. — Sierra Madre.— A huge Skeleton.— The Ruins. — Pyramidal Structures.—A Vault.—Mounds.—A welcome Addition.—lInterior of a Mound. —Vases.—Ascent of the Sierra Madre.—Buena Vista.—The Descent.—Todos Santos.—San Martin.—San Andres Petapan.—A Forest on Fire.—Suffering of the Mules from Swarms of Flies.—San Antonio de Guista_ . ‘ . 221
CHAPTER XIV.
Comfortable Lodgings.—Journey continued.—Stony Road.—Beautiful River.— Suspension Bridge.-— The Dolores—Rio Lagertero.— Enthusiasm brought down.—Another Bridge.—Entry into Mexico.—A Bath.—A Solitary Church. —A Scene of Barrenness.—Zapolouta.—Comitan.—Another Countryman.— More Perplexities. — Official Courtesy. — Trade of Comitan. — Smuggling. — Scarcity of Soap . ‘ : , A é é 2 A , . 240
CHAPTER XV.
Parting. —Sotana.—A Millionaire.—Ocosingo.—Ruins.—Beginning of the Rainy Season.—A Female Guide.—Arrival at the Ruins.—Stone Figures.—Pyrami- dal Structures.—An Arch.—A Stucco Ornament.—A Wooden Lintel.—A cu- rious Cave. — Buildings, &c.— A Causeway. — More Ruins. — Journey to Pa- lenque.—Rio Grande.—Cascades.—Succession of Villages.—A Maniac.—The Yahalon.—Tumbala.—A wild Place.--A Scene of Grandeur and Sublimity.— Indian Carriers—A steep Mountain—San Pedro... ih ee
CHAPTER XVI.
A wild Country.—Ascent of a Mountain.—Ride in a Silla—A precarious Situa- tion —The Descent.—Rancho of Nopa.—Attacks of Moschetoes.—Approach to Palenque.—Pasture Grounds.—Village of Palenque.—A crusty Official—A
v1 CONTENTS.
courteous Reception.—Scarcity of Provisions.—Sunday.—Cholera.—A nother Countryman.—The Conversion, Apostacy, and Recovery of the Indians.—River Chacamal.—The Caribs.—Ruins of Palenque .. 0 Ee. TE oe eS
CHAPTER XVII.
Preparations for visiting the Ruins. — A Turn-out. — Departure.—The Road.— Rivers Micol and Otula.—Arrival at the Ruins.—The Palace.—A Feu-de-joie. —Quarters in the Palace.—Inscriptions by former Visiters—The Fate of Beanham.— Discovery of the Ruins of Palenque.—Visit of Del Rio.—Expe- dition of Dupaix.—Drawings of the present Work.—First Dinner at the Ru- ins —Mammoth Fireflies.—Sleeping Apartments.—Extent of the Ruins.—Ob- stacles to Exploration.—Suffering from Moschetoes. . . . « 289
CHAPTER XVIII.
Precautions against the Attacks of Moschetoes.—Mode of Life at Palenque.— Description of the Palace.— Piers.— Hieroglyphics.— Figures.— Doorways.— Corridors.—Courtyards.—A wooden Relic.-—-Stone Steps.—Towers.—T ablets. —Stucco Ornaments, &c., &c.—The Royal Chapel.—Explorations.—An Aque- duct.—An Alarm.—Insects.—Effect of Insect Stings.—Return to the Village of Palenque “ame eines sates : a ee oi has eS
CHAPTER XIX.
A Voice from the Ruins.—Buying Bread.—Arrival of Padres.—Cura of Palenque. —Card Playing.—Sunday.—Mass.—A Dinner Party.—Mementoes of Home.— Dinner Customs.—Return to the Ruins.—A marked Change.—Terrific Thun- der.—A Whirlwind.—A Scene of the Sublime and Terrible. “ . 325
CHAPTER XX.
Plan of the Ruins.—Pyramidal Structure.—A Building.—Stucco Omaments.— Human Figures.—Tablets.—Remarkable Hieroglyphics.—Range of Pillars.— Stone Terrace.—Another Building.—A large Tablet.—A Cross.—Conjectures in regard to this Cross.—Beautiful Sculpture——A Platform.—Curious De- vices.—A Statue.—Another Pyramidal Structure, surmounted by a Building. — Corridors.—A curious Bas-relief.—Stone Tablets, with Figures in Bas-relief.— Tablets and Figures.—The Oratorio.—More Pyramidal Structures and Build- ings.—Extent of the Ruins.—These Ruins the Remains of a polished and pe- culiar People.—Antiquity of Palenque 4 ee wee te
CHAPTER XXI.
Departure from the Ruins.—Bad Road.—An Accident.—Arrival at the Village. —A Funeral Procession.—Negotiations for Purchasing Palenque.—Making Casts.—Final Departure from Palenque.—Beautiful Plain.—Hanging Birds’- nests.—A Sitio.—Adventure with a monstrous Ape.—Hospitality of Padres.— Las Playas.—A Tempest.—Moschetoes.—A Youthful Merchant.—Alligators. —Another Funeral.—Disgusting Ceremonials . } : Bd Ar . 358
.&.
=
CONTENTS. Vil
CHAPTER XXII.
Embarcation—An inundated Plain.—Rio Chico.—The Usumasinta.—Rio Pal- isada.— Y ucatan.— More Revolutions.— Vespers.—Embarcation for the Laguna. —Shooting Alligators.—Tremendous Storm.—Boca Chico.— Lake of Terminos. —A Calm, succeeded by a Tempest.—Arrival at the Laguna . . Page 374
CHAPTER XXIII.
Laguna.—Journey to Merida.—Sisal.—A new Mode of Conveyance.—Village of Hunucama.—Arrival at Merida.—Aspect of the City.—Féte of Corpus Dom- ini.—The Cathedral.—The Procession.— Beauty and Simplicity of the Indian Women.—Palace of the Bishop.—The Theatre-—Journey to Uxmal.—Ha- cienda of Vayalquex.—Value of Water.—Condition of the Indians in Yucatan. —A peculiar kind of Coach.—Hacienda of Mucuyche.—A beautiful Grotto 391
CHAPTER XXIV.
Journey resumed.—Arrival at Uxmal.—Hacienda of Uxmal. — Major-domos.— Adventures of a young Spaniard.—Visit to the Ruins of Uxmal.—First Sight of the Ruins.—Character of the Indians.— Details of Hacienda Life.—A delicate Case.—Illness of Mr. Catherwood.—Breaking up , , , : . 410
CHAPTER XXV.
Ruins of Uxmal.—A lofty Building.—Magnificent View from its Doorway.—Pe- culiar sculptured Ornaments.-—Another Building, called by the Indians the House of the Dwarf.—An Indian Legend.—The House of the Nuns.—The House of Turtles—The House of Pigeons.—The Guard-house.—Absence of Water.—The House of the Governor.—Terraces.— Wooden Lintels.—Details of the House of the Governor.—Doorways.—Corridors.—A Beam of Wood, in- scribed with Hieroglyphics.—Sculptured Stones, &c. ee : . 420
CHAPTER XXVI.
_ Exploration finished.—Who built these ruined Cities?—Opinion of Dupaix.—
- These Ruins bear no Resemblance to the Architecture of Greece and Rome.— _ Nothing like them in Europe.—Do not Resemble the known Works of Japan and China.—Neither those of Hindu.—No Excavations found.—The Pyramids of Egypt, in their original State, do not resemble what are called the Pyramids of America.—The Temples of Egypt not like those of America.—Sculpture not the same as that of Egypt.—Probable Antiquity of these Ruins.—Accounts of the Spanish Historians.—These Cities probably built by the Races inhabiting the Country at the time of the Spanish Conquest.—These Races not yet extinct 436
CHAPTER XXVII.
Journey to Merida.—Village of Moona.—A Pond of Water, a Curiosity.—Aboula. —Indian Runners.—Merida.—Departure—Hunucama.—Siege of Campeachy. —Embarcation for Havana.—Incidents of the Passage.—Fourth of July at Sea. —Shark-fishing.—Getting lost at Sea.—Relieved by the Helen Maria.—Pas- sage to New-York.—Arrival.—Conclusion. . tan co ante tea aeaoe
ENGRAVINGS OF VOLUME II,
Page Stone-Tablet- on. s2ee cp wtrelels Stop a ee ote iota RO ULS cious Frontispiece. do) at-Quirigua-_ oo etck ere eee rete Ss ae 121
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INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL
OF
CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN,
CHAPTER I.
Visit to the Volcano of Masaya.— Village of Masaya.—Lake of Masaya.—Nindi- rii—Ascent of the Volcano.—Account of it.—The Crater.— Descent into it.— Volcano of Nindiri.—Ignorance of the People concerning Objects of Interest.— Return to Masaya.—Another Countryman.—Managua.—Lake of Managua.— Fishing.—Beautiful Scenery.—Mateares.—Questa del Relox.—Nagarotis.— Crosses.—A. Gamekeeper.—Pueblo Nuevo.
Marcu 1. Anxious as [ was to hurry on, I resolved nevertheless to give one day to the Volcano of Masaya. For this purpose I sent a courier ahead to procure me a guide up the volcano, and did not get off till eleven o’clock. At a short distance from the city we met a little negro on horseback, dressed in the black suit that nature made him, with two large plantain leaves sewed together for a hat, and plantain leaves for a saddle. At the distance of two leagues we came in sight of the volcano, and at four o’clock, after a hot ride, entered the town, one of the oldest and largest in Nicaragua, and though completely inland, containing, with its sub- urbs, a population of twenty thousand. We rode to the house of Don Sabino Satroon, who lay, with his mouth open, snoring in a hammock; but his wife, a pretty young half-blood, received me cordially, and with a proper regard for the infirmities of an old hus- band and for me, did not wake him up. All at once
8 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
he shut his mouth and opened his eyes, and gave me a cordial welcome. Don Sabino was a Colombian, who had been banished for ten years, as he said, for services rendered his country; and having found his way to Masaya, had married the pretty young half-breed, and setup asadoctor. Inside the door, behind a little stock of sugar, rice, sausages, and chocolate, was a formidable array of jars and bottles, exhibiting as many colours and as puzzling labels as an apothecary’s shop at home.
I had time to take a short walk around the town, and turning down the road, at the distance of half a mile came to the brink of a precipice, more than a hundred feet high, at the foot of which, and a short distance be- yond, was the Lake of Masaya. The descent was al- most perpendicular, in one place by a rough ladder, and then by steps cut in the rock. I was obliged to stop while fifteen or twenty women, most of them young girls, passed. ‘Their water-jars were made of the shell of a large gourd, round, with fanciful figures scratched on them, and painted or glazed, supported on the back by a strap across the forehead, and secured by fine net- work. Below they were chattering gayly, but by the time they reached the place where I stood they were silent, their movements very slow, their breathing hard, and faces covered with profuse perspiration. This was a great part of the daily labour of the women of the place, and in this way they procured enough for domes- tic use; but every horse, mule, or cow was obliged to go by a circuitous road of more than a league for water. Why'a large town has grown up and been continued so far from this element of life, Ido not know. The Span- iards found it a large Indian village, and as they immedi- ately made the owners of the soil their drawers of water, they did not feel the burden; nor do their descendants now. ,
VOLCANO OF MASAYA. 9
In the mean time my guide arrived, who, to my great satisfaction, was no less a personage than the alcalde himself. The arrangements were soon made, and I was to join him the next morning at his house in Nindiri. I gave my mules and Nicolas a day’s rest, and started on Don Sabino’s horse, with a boy to act as guide and to -earry a pair of alforgas with provisions. In half an hour I reached Nindiri, having met more people than on my whole road from San José to Nicaragua. The alcalde ~ was ready, and in company with an assistant, who carried _ a pair of alforgas with provisions and a calabash of water, . allmounted, we set out. At the distance of half a league we left the main road, and turned off on a small path in the woods on the left. We emerged from this into an open field covered with lava, extending to the base of the volcano in front and on each side as far as I could see, black, several feet deep, and in some places lying in high ridges. A faint track was beaten by cattle over this plain of lava. In front were two volcanoes, from both of which streams of lava had run down the sides into the plain. ‘That directly in front my guide said was the Voleano of Masaya. In that on the right, and far- thest from us, the crater was broken, and the great chasm inside was visible. ‘This he said was called Ven- tero, a name I never heard before, and that it was in- accessible. Riding toward that in front, and crossing the field -of lava, we reached the foot of the volcano. Here the grass was high, but the ground was rough and uneven, being covered with decomposed lava. We as- cended on horseback until it became too steep for the horses to carry us, and then dismounted, tied them to a bush, and continued on foot. I was already uneasy as to my guides’ knowledge of localities, and soon found that they were unwilling or unable to endure much fa-
Vou. I.—B ,
10 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
tigue. Before we were half way up they disencumber- ed themselves of the water-jar and provisions, and yet they lagged behind. The alcalde was a man about forty, who rode his own horse, and bemg a man of con- sequence in the town, | could not order him to go fast- er; his associate was some ten years older, and physi- cally incapable ; and seeing that they did not know any particular path, I left them and went on alone.
At eleven o’clock, or three hours from the village of Nindiri, I reached the high point at which we were aiming ; and from this point I expected to look down | into the crater of the volcano; but there was no crater, and the whole surface was covered with gigantic mass- es of lava, and overgrown with bushes and scrub trees. I waited till my guides came up, who told me that this was the Volcano of Masaya, and that there was nothing more to see. The alcalde insisted that two years before he had ascended with the cura, since deceased, and a party of villagers, and they all stopped at this place. was disappointed and dissatisfied. Directly opposite rose a high peak, which I thought, from its position, must command a view of the crater of the other volca- no. I attempted to reach it by passing round the cir- cumference of the mountain, but was obstructed by an immense chasm, and returning, struck directly across. I had no idea what I was attempting. ‘The whole was covered with lava lying in ridges and irregular masses, the surface varying at every step, and overgrown with trees and bushes. After an hour of the hardest work I ever had in my life, I reached the point at which I aim- ed, and, to my astonishment, instead of seeing the cra- ter of the distant volcano, I was on the brink of another.
Among the recorded wonders of the discoveries in America, this movntain was one; and the Spaniards,
A MONKISH LEGEND. 11
who in those days never stopped half way in any mat- ter that touched the imagination, called it El Infierno de Masaya, or the Hell of Masaya. The historian, in speaking of Nicaragua, says, “ ‘here are burning mount- ains in this province, the chief of which is Masaya, where the natives at certain times offered up maids, throwing them into it, thinking by their lives to appease the fire, that it might not destroy the country, and they went to it very chearful;’’ and in another place he says, ‘‘ Three leagues from the city of Masaya is a small hill, flat and round, called Masaya, being a burning Mountain, the Mouth of it being half a League in Com- pass, and the Depth within it two hundred and fifty Fathoms. There are no ‘Trees nor Grass, but Birds build without any Disturbance from the Fire. There is another Mouth like that of a Well about a Bowshot over, the distance from which to the Fire is about a hundred and fifty Fathoms, always boiling up, and that mass of Fire often rises and gives a great Light, so that it can be seen at a considerable Distance. It moves from one Side to the other, and sometimes roars so loud that it is dreadful, yet never casts up any- thing but Smoak and Flame. The Liquor never ceas- ing at the Bottom, nor its Boiling, imagining the same to be Gold, F. Blase de Yniesta, of the Order of Sz. Dominick, and two other Spaniards, were let down into the first Mouth in two Baskets, with a Bucket made of one Piece of Iron, and a long Chain to draw up some of that fiery Matter, and know whether it was Metal. The Chain ran a hundred and fifty Fathoms, and as soon as it came to the Fire, the Bucket melted, with some Links of the Chain, in a very short Time, and therefore they could not know what was below. They lay there that Night without any Want of Fire or Can-
1% INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
dles, and came out again in their Baskets sufficiently frighted.”’
Either the monk, disappointed in his search for gold, had fibbed, or nature had made one of its most extra- ordinary changes. The crater was about a mile and a half in circumference, five or six hundred feet deep, with sides slightly sloping, and so regular in its propor- tions that it seemed an artificial excavation. The bot- tom was level, both sides and bottom covered with grass, and it seemed an immense conical green basin. There were none of the fearful marks of a volcanic eruption; nothing to terrify, or suggest an idea of el in- fierno; but, on the contrary, it was a scene of singular and quiet beauty. I descended to the side of the cra- ‘ter, and walked along the edge, looking down into the area. ‘Toward the other end was a growth of arbolitos or little trees, and in one place no grass grew, and the. ground was black and loamy, like mud drying up. This was perhaps the mouth of the mysterious well that sent up the flame, which gave its light a ** consider- able distance,’’ into which the Indian maidens were thrown, and which melted the monk’s iron bucket. Like him, I felt curious to “‘ know what was below;”’ but the sides of the crater were perpendicular. Entirely alone, and with an hour’s very hard work between me and my guides, I hesitated about making any attempt to descend, but I disliked to return without. In one place, and near the black earth, the side was broken, and there were some bushes and scrub trees. I planted my gun against a stone, tied my handkerchief around it as a signal of my whereabout, and very soon was below the level of the ground. Letting myself down by the aid of roots, bushes, and projecting stones, I descended to a scrub tree which grew out of the side about half
DESCENT INTO THE CRATER. 13
way from the bottom, and below this it was a naked and perpendicular wall. It was impossible to go any farther. I was even obliged to keep on the upper side of the tree, and here I was more anxious than ever to reach the bot- tom; but it wasof nouse. Hanging midway, impressed with the solitude and the extraordinary features of ascene upon which so few human eyes have ever rested, and the power of the great Architect who has scattered his wonderful works over the whole face of the earth, I could not but reflect, what a waste of the bounties of Providence in this favoured but miserable land! At home this voleano would be a fortune; with a good- hotel on top, a railing round to keep children from fall- ing in, a zigzag staircase down the sides, and a glass of iced lemonade at the bottom. Cataracts are good property with people who know how to turn them to account. Niagara and Trenton Falls pay well, and the owners of volcanoes in Central America might make money out of them by furnishing facilities to travellers. This one could probably be bought for ten dollars, and I would have given twice that sum for a rope and a man to hold it. Meanwhile, though anx- ious to be at the bottom, I was casting my eyes wist- fully to the top. The turning of an ankle, breaking of a branch, rolling of a stone, or a failure of strength, might put me where I should have been as hard to find as the government of Central America. I commenced climbing up, slowly and with care, and in due time hauled myself out in safety. : On my right was a full view of the broken crater of the Volcano of Nindiri. The side toward me was hurled down, and showed the whole interior of the cra- ter. This the alcalde had declared inaccessible ; and partly from sheer spite against him, I worked my way 2
14 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
to it with extreme labour and difficulty. At length, after five hours of most severe toil among the rugged heaps of lava, I descended to the place where we had left our provisions. Here I seized the calabash of water, and stood for several minutes with my face turned up to the skies, and then I began upon the alcalde and the eata- bles. Both he and his companion expressed their utter astonishment at what I described, and persisted in saying that they did not know of the existence of such a place.
I dwell upon this matter for the benefit of any future traveller who may go out competent and prepared to explore the interesting volcanic regions of Central America. Throughout my journey my labours were much increased by the ignorance and indifference of the people concerning the objects of interest in their im- mediate neighbourhood. A few intelligent and educa- ted men know of their existence as part of the history of the country, but I never met one who had visited the ‘Volcano of Masaya; and in the village at its foot the traveller will not obtain even the scanty information af- forded in these pages. 'The alcalde was born near this volcano; from boyhood had hunted stray cattle on its side, and told me that he knew every foot of the ground ; yet he stopped me short of the only object of interest, ignorant, as he said, of its existence. Now either the alcalde lied, and was too lazy to encounter the toil which I had undergone, or he was imposing upon me. In ei- ther case he deserves a flogging, and I beg the next traveller, as a particular favour to me, to give him one.
I was too indignant with the alcalde to have anything farther to do with him; and bent upon making another - attempt, on my return to the village I rode to the house _ of the cura, to obtain his assistance in procuring men and making other needful preparations. On the steps
A BLACK PRIEST. © 15
of the back piazza I saw a young negro man, in a black gown and cap, sitting by the side of a good-looking, well-dressed white woman, and, if I mistake not, dis- coursing to her of other things than those connected with his priestly duties. His black reverence was by no means happy to see me. I asked him if I could make an inn of his house, which, though it sounds somewhat free, is the set phrase for a traveller to use ; and, without rising from his seat, he said his house was small and in- commodious, and that the alcalde had a good one. He was the first black priest I had seen, and the only one in the country who failed in hospitality. I must confess that I felt a strong impulse to lay the butt of a pistol over his head; and spurring my horse so that he sprang al- most upon him, I wheeled short and galloped out of the yard. With the alcalde and cura both against me, I had no chance in the village. It was nearly dark, and I re- turned to Masaya. My vexation was lost in a sense of overpowering fatigue. It would be impossible to repeat the severe labour of the day without an interval of rest, and there was so much difficulty in making arrange- ments, that I determined to mount my macho and push on.
The next morning I resumed my journey. My mules had not been watered. To send them to the lake and back would give them a journey of two leagues; and to save them I bought water, which was measured out in a gourd holding about a quart. At about a league’s distance we came in sight of the Lake of Managua, and before us the whole country was a bed of lava from the base of the volcano to the lake. I met a travelling par- ty, the principal of which I recognised as a stranger., We had passed, when I turned round and accosted him in English; and after looking at me for a minute, to
16 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
my great surprise he called me by name. He was an American named Higgins, whom I had seen last at my own office in New-York. He was coming from Real- ejo, and was on his way to San Juan, with the intention of embarking for the United States. We sent our lug- gage on and dismounted ; and besides the pleasure of the meeting, I am under great obligation to him, for I was riding at the time on an alvardo, or common sad- dle of the country, very painful for one not used to it. My own saddle hurt my macho; and as his journey was nearly at an end, he gave me his in exchange, which I rode on afterward till I left it on the shores of Yuca- tan. He gave me, too, a line in pencil to a lady in Leon, and I charged him with messages to my friends at home. When he rode off I almost envied him; he was leaving behind him tumults and convulsions, and was going to a quiet home, but I had still a long and difficult journey before me.
In about three hours, after a desperately hot ride, we reached Managua, beautifully situated on the banks of the lake. Entering through a collection of thatched huts, we passed a large aristocratic house, with a court- yard occupying a whole square, the mansion of an ex- patriated family, decaying and going to ruin.
Late in the afternoon I walked down to the lake. It was not so grand as the Lake of Nicaragua, but it was a noble sheet of water, and in full sight was the Volcano of Momontanbo. The shore presented the same animated spectacle of women filling their water- jars, men bathing, horses and mules drinking, and in one place was a range of fishermen’s huts; on the edge .of the water stakes were set up in a triangular form, and women with small hand-nets were catching fish, which they threw into hollow places ‘dug, or rather
LAKE OF MANAGUWA.. 17
scraped, in the sand. The fish were called sardinitos, and at the door of the huts the men were building fires to cook them. The beauty of this scene was enhanced by the reflection that it underwent no change. Here was perpetual summer; no winter ever came to drive the inhabitants shivering to their fires; but still it may be questioned whether, with the same scenery and cli- mate, wants few and easily supplied, luxuriating in the open air, and by the side of this lovely lake, even the descendants of the Anglo-Saxon race would not lose their energy and industry. |
This lake empties into the Lake of Nicaragua by means of the River Tipitapa, and another communication be- tween the two seas has been spoken of by means of a canal from it to the Pacific at the port of Realejo. The ground is perfectly level, and the port is perhaps the best in Spanish America; but the distance is sixty miles, and there are other difficulties which it seems to me are insuperable. ‘The River Tipitapa has been rep- resented as navigable the whole length for the largest ships; but no survey was ever made until Mr. Bailey’s, according to which it is thirty miles in length. Begin- ing at the Lake of Nicaragua, for twenty-four miles the water is from one to three fathoms in depth. Above this there are rapids, and at the distance of four and a half miles a fall of thirteen feet. The whole rise within the six miles is twenty-eight feet eight inches. The Lake of Managua, from observation and information without survey, is about fifteen leagues long and thirty- five in circumference, and averages ten fathoms of wa- ter. There is not a single stream on the contemplated line of canal from this lake to the Pacific, and it would be necessary for this lake to furnish the whole supply of water for communication with both oceans. :
Vou. I.—C
18 ’ INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
At three o’clock the next morning we started. In all the tierras calientes it is the custom to travel at night, or, rather, very early in the morning. At eight o’clock we entered the village of Mateares, where we procured some eggs and breakfasted. From this village our road lay directly along the lake, but a few paces from the shore, and shaded by noble trees. Unfortu- nately, we were obliged to turn off to avoid a large rock which had rolled down several months before, and probably blocks up the road still; this brought us round by the Questa del Relox, so called from a venerable sundial which stands on one side of the road, of a dark gray stone, with an inscription in Castilian, but the characters so worn and indistinct that I could not make them out. It has no history except that it was erected by the conquerors, and it stands as an inditation of the works with which the Spaniards began the settlement of the country. |
At half past eleven we left the lake for the last time, and entered an open plain. We rode an hour longer, and reached Nagarotis, a miserable village, its houses built partly of mud, with yards in front, trodden bare by mules, and baked white by the sun. I entered one of the houses for shelter, and found in it a young negro priest on his way to Carthagena, with orders from the Church at Leon. The house was occupied by an old man alone. It had a bedstead with a mat over it, upon which I lay down, glad to rest a while, and to escape the scorching heat. Opposite the bed was a rude frame about six feet high, on the top of which was a sort of babyhouse, with the figure of the Virgin sitting on a chair, and dressed in cheap finery.
At three we started again. The sun had lost some of its force, the road was wooded, and I observed more
A SPORTING CHARACTER... 19
than the usual number of crosses. The people of Nic- aragua are said to be the worst in the republic. The inhabitants of the other states always caution a stran- ger against them, and they are proportionally devout. _ Everywhere, in the cities and country, on the tops of mountains, and by the side of rivers, these memorials stared me in the face. I noticed one in a cleared place by the roadside, painted black, with a black board sus- pended to it, containing an inscription in faded white letters; it had been erected to the memory of a padre who had been murdered and buried at its foot. I stop- ped to copy the inscription, and while so engaged saw a travelling party approaching, and knowing the jeal- ousy of the people, shut my notebook and rode on. The party consisted of two men, with their servants, and a woman. ‘The younger man accosted me, and said that he had seen me at Grenada, and regretted that he had not known of my proposed journey. From the style of his dress and equipments I supposed him to be a gentleman, and was sure of it from the circum- stance of his carrying a gamecock under his arm. As we rode on the conversation turned upon these interest- ing birds, and I learned that my new acquaintance was going to Leon to fight a match, of which he offered to give me notice. The bird which he carried had won three matches in Grenada; its fame had reached Leon, and drawn forth a challenge from that place. It was rolled up as carefully as a fractured leg, with nothing but the head and tail visible; and suspended by a string, was as easily carried as a basket. The young man sighed over the miseries of the country, the distress and ruin caused by the wars, and represented the pit at Grenada as being in a deplorable condition; but in Leon he said it was very flourishing, on account of its
20 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
being the headquarters of ‘the military. The building, too, did honour to the city; it was only open on Sun- days; but he knew the proprietor, and could at any time make an arrangement for a match. He made many inquiries about the state of the science in my country ; told me that he had imported two cocks from _ England, which were game enough, but not sufficiently © heavy for theirs; and gave me, besides, much valuable information on this subject, of which I neglected to make any memorandum. :
Before dark we reached Pueblo Nuevo, and all went to the same posada. His companion was not so much of a sportsman, though he knew the qualities of a good bird, and showed a familiarity m handling them. It was the first time I had fallen in with travellers for the night. I have avoided details in all places where I was partaking of private hospitality, but this was like a ho- tel at home, in the main point that all were expected to pay. We had for supper poached eggs and beans, without plate, knife, fork, or spoon. My companions used their tortillas to take up an egg, and also, by turn- ing up the edges, to scoop out frigoles from the dish; withal, they were courteous and gentlemanly. We had a species of chocolate, made of pounded cocoa and sweetened, and served in hickories, which, having bot- toms like the butts of large eggs, could not stand on the table. My companions twisted their pocket-handker- chiefs, and winding them on the table in circular folds, set the hickories inside the hollow, and one of them did the same with my handkerchief for me. After supper the younger of the two dressed the birds in their robes de nuit, a cotton cloth wound tight around the body, compressing the wings, and then, with a string fastened to the back of the cloth, so that the body was balanced,
A NIGHT’S LODGING. 9]
hooked each of them to the hammock. While he was preparing them the woman was showing horn combs, beads, earrings, and rosaries, and entrapped the daugh- ter of the host into the purchase of acomb. The house had an unusual influx of company. The young man, the female merchant, and I do not know how many of the family, slept ina back room. The elder traveller offered me the hammock, but I preferred the long chest, made from the trunk of a tree, which in every house in Nicaragua served as a sort of cupboard.
22 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
CHAPTER II.
Beautiful Plain.—Leon.—Stroll through the Town.—Baneful Effects of Party Spirit.—Scenes of Horror.—Unpleasant Intelligence.—Journey continued.— A fastidious Beggar.—Chinandaga.—Gulf of Couchagua.—Visit to Realejo.— Cotton Factory,—Harbour of Realejo.—El Viejo.—Port of Nagoscolo.— Im- portance of a Passport.—Embarking Mules.—A Bungo.—Volcano of Cosagui- na.—Eruption of 1835.—La Union. ~
At two o’clock we were awakened by the crowing of the cocks, and at three the cargo-mules were loaded and we set off. The road was level and wooded, but desperately dusty. For two hours after daylight we had shade, when we came upon an open plain, bounded on the Pacific side by a low ridge, and on the right by a high range of mountains, forming part of the great chain of the Cordilleras. Before us, at a great distance, rising above the level of the plain, we saw the spires of the Cathedral of Leon. This magnificent plain, in rich- ness of soil not surpassed by any land in the world, lay as desolate as when the Spaniards first traversed it. The dry season was near its close ; for four months there had been no rain, and the dust hung around us in thiek clouds, hot and fine as the sands of Egypt. At nine o’clock we reached Leon, and I parted from my com- panions, but not without a courteous invitation from the younger to take up my rest at the house of his brother. The suburbs were more miserable than anything I had yet seen. Passing up a long street, across which a sen- tinel was patrolling, I saw in front of the quartel a group of vagabond soldiers, a match for Carrera’s, who cried out insolently, ‘‘ Quittez el sombrero,” “ Take off your hat.’’ I had to traverse the whole extent of the
AN UNCIVIL HOSTESS. 23
city before I reached the house to which I had been recommended. I dismounted, and entered it with con- fidence of a warm reception; but the lady, with consid- erable expedition, told me that her husband was not at home. I gave her a note with which I had been fur- nished, addressed to herself; but she said she could not . read English, and handed it back. I translated it word for word, being a request that she would give me lodg- ings. Her brow actually knit with vexation; and she said she had but one ‘spare room, and that was re- served for the English vice-consul from Realejo. I an- swered that the vice-consul did not intend leaving Re- alejo for the present. She asked me how long I intend- ed to stay; and when I replied only that night, she said that if such was the case I might remain. The reader will perhaps wonder at my want of spirit; but the fact is, I was loth to consider any incivility person- al. My only alternative was to seek out the young man whose invitation I had declined, and whose name I did not know, or to ask admission from door to door.
_It is said that women are governed by appearances, and mine was not very seductive. My dress was the same with which I had left Grenada, soiled by the as- cent of the Volcano of Masaya, and now covered with dust. Making the most of my moderate wardrobe, on my reappearance I was more favourably received. At least I had a capital breakfast; and as it was very hot, and I wanted to rest, J remained in doors and played with the children. At dinner I had the seat of honour at the head of the table, and had made such progress, that, if I had desired it, F would have ventured to broach the subject of remaining another day; and I owe it to the lady to say, that, having assented to my remaining,
24 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
she treated me with great civility and attention, and particularly used great exertions in procuring me a guide to enable me to set out the next day.
After dinner Nicolas came to my room, and with uplifted hands cried out against the people of Leon, Gente indecente, sin verguenza (literally), indecent peo- ple, without shame. He had been hooted in the streets, . and had heard such stories of the state of the country before us that he wanted to return home. I was ex- tremely loth to make another change, and particularly for any of the assassin-looking scoundrels whom I had seen on my entry; but I did not like the responsibility of taking him against his will, and told him that if he would procure me two honest men he might leave me, I had advanced him more than was due, but I had a security against his deserting me in his apprehension of being taken for a soldier.
This over, I walked out to take a view of the town. It had an appearance of old and aristocratic respecta- bility, which no other city in Central America possess- ed. The houses were large, and many of the fronts were full of stucco ornaments; the plaza was spacious, and the squares of the churches and the churches them- selves magnificent. It was the seat of a bishopric, and distinguished for the costliness of its churches and con- vents, its seats of learning, and its men of science, down to the time of its revolution against Spain; but in walk- ing through its streets I saw palaces in which nobles had lived dismantled and roofless, and occupied by half-starved wretches, pictures of misery and want; and on one side an immense field of ruins, covering half the city.
Almost immediately on the establishment of inde-
SCENES OF HORROR. 25
pendence, and the drawing of the great party-lines be- tween the Centralists and Federalists, the State of Nic- aragua became the theatre of a furious struggle. Inan unfortunate hour the people elected a Central governor and Liberal vice-governor. A divided administration led to drawing of blood and the most sanguinary con- flict known in civil wars. Inch by inch the ground was disputed, till the whole physical force and deadly animosity of the state were concentrated in the capital. The contending parties fought up to the very heart of the city; the streets were barricaded, and for three months not a person could pass the line without being shot at. Scenes of horror surpassing human belief are fresh in the memory of the inhabitants. The Liberals prevailed ; the Central chief was killed, his forces mas- sacred, and in the phrensy of the moment, the-part of the city occupied by the Centralists was burned and razed to the ground; besides the blood of murdered citizens, the tears and curses of widows and orphans, the victors had the rich enjoyment of a desolated coun- try and a ruined capital. The same ruthless spirit still characterized the inhabitants of Leon. The heroes of Taguzegalpa, without a single prisoner as a monument of mercy, had been received with ringing of bells and firing of cannon, and other demonstrations of joy, and they were still in the city, flushed with their brutal vic- tory, and anxious to be led on to more such triumphs. I must confess that I felt a degree of uneasiness in walking the streets of Leon that I never felt in any city in the East. My change of dress did not make my presence more acceptable, and the eagle on my hat at- tracted particular attention. At every corner was a group of scoundrels, who stared at me as if disposed to pick a quarrel. With some my official character made Voz. II.—-D 5)
26 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
me an object of suspicion ; for in their disgraceful fights they thought that the eyes of the whole world were upon them, and that England, France, and the United States were secretly contending for the possession of their in- teresting country. I mtended to pay a visit to the chief of the state ; but, afraid of being insulted or getting into some difficulty that might detain me, I returned to the house. |
By means of the servants Nicolas had found two men > who were willing to accompany me, but I did not like their looks, or even to let them know when I intended to setout. I had hardly disposed of them before my guide came to advise me not to set out the next day, as five hundred soldiers, who had been making preparations for several days, were to march the next morning against San Salvador. This was most unpleasant in- telligence. I did not wish to travel with them, or to fall in with them on the road; and calculating that their march would be slower than mine, told the guide to as- certain their time for starting, and we would set out two hours before them. Nicolas went out with him to take the mules to water ; but they returned in great haste, with intelligence that piquets were scouring the city for men and mules, and had entered the yard of a padre near by and taken three of his animals. The lady of the house ordered all the doors to be locked and the keys brought to her, and an hour before dark we were all shut in, and my poor mules went without water.
At about eight o’clock we heard the tramp of cavalry in the streets, and gathering inside the doorway, saw about six hundred men taking up their line of march. There was no music, no shouting, no waving of hand- kerchiefs, to cheer them as defenders of their country or as adventurers in the road to glory; but in the dark,
EXPEDITION AGAINST GRENADA. 27
and barefooted, their tread seemed stealthy; people looked at them with fear ; and it seemed rather the sally of a band of conspirators than a march by the soldiers of a republic.
My muleteer did not return till daylight the next morning. Fortunately for us, he had learned that the troops were destined on another, but even a more in-
glorious expedition. Expenses had been incurred in sending troops into Honduras, of which Grenada refu- sed to pay its portion, on the ground that, by the con- stitution, it was not liable except for expenses incurred in defending the borders of its own state. This was admitted; but the expense had been incurred; Leon had fought the battle, and had the same materials with which she gained it to enforce the contribution. In or- der that Grenada might be taken unawares, it was given out that the troops were destined for San Salvador, and they were actually marched out on the San Salvador road; but at midnight made a circuit, and took the route for Grenada. War between different states was bad enough, but here the flame which had before laid the capital in ruins was lighted again within its own borders. What the result of this expedition was I
*never heard; but probably, taken unawares and without arms, Grenada was compelled by bayonets to pay what, by the constitution, she was not, bound to pay. °
- Outside of Leon, and once more on the back of my macho, I breathed more freely. Nicolas was induced to continue by hearing that there was a vessel at Realejo for Costa Rica, and I hoped to find one for Zonzonate. The great plain of Leon was even more beautiful than before ; too beautiful for the thankless people to whom the bounty of Providence had given it. On the left was the same low ridge separating it from the Pacific
28 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
Ocean, and on the right the great range of Cordilleras, terminated by the volcano of the Viejo.
I had passed through the village of Chichuapa when I heard a cry of ‘“ caballero’”’ behind me, and turning, saw divers people waving their hands, and a woman running, almost out of breath, with a pocket-handker- chief which I had left at the house where I breakfasted. I was going on, when a respectable-looking gentleman stopped me, with many apologies for the liberty, and asked for a medio, sixpence. I gave him one, which he examined and handed back, saying, ‘‘ No corre,” ‘it does not pass.’’ It was always, in paying money, a matter of course to have two or three pieces return- ed, and this I sometimes resisted ; but as in this land everything was al reverso, it seemed regular for beg- gars to be choosers, and I gave him another.
My stopping-place was at the house of Mr. Bridges, an Englishman from one of the West India Islands, who had been resident in the country many years, and was married to a lady of Leon, but, on account of the convulsions of the country, lived on his hacienda. The soil was rich for cotton and sugar, and Mr. B. said that here fifty men could manufacture sugar cheaper than two hundred in the islands; but the difficulty was, no reliance could be placed upon Indian labour. Here agai, thanks to the kindness of Mr. B. and his lady, and the magnificent wildness of hacienda life, I could have passed several days with much satisfaction ; but I stopped only for dinner, after which Mr. B. accompa- nied me to Chinandaga.
As usual, my first business was to make arrange- ments for continuing my journey. My whole road was along the coast of the Pacific, but beyond this the
Gulf of Couchagua made a large indentation in the
=P
A COTTON FACTORY. 29
Jand, which it was customary to cross in a bungo, send- ing the mules around the head of the gulf. I was ad- vised that the latter was hazardous, as the Honduras troops were marching upon San Salvador, and would seize them. I might save them by going myself; but it was a journey of six days, through a country so des- olate that it was necessary to carry food for the mules; and as I had still a long road beyond, I felt it necessa- ry to economize my strength. I was loth to run the risk of losing my mules, and sent a courier to El Viejo, where the owners of the bungoes lived, to hire the largest, determined to run the risk of taking them with me. ‘The next morning the courier returned, hav- ing procured a bungo, to be ready the next evening, and with a message from the owner that the embarca- tion must be at my risk.
Obliged to wait the day, after breakfast I started for Realejo. On the way I met Mr. Foster, the English vice-consul, coming to see me. He turned back, and took me first to the machino or cotton factory, of which I had heard much on the road. It was the only one in the country, and owed its existence to the enterprise of a countryman, having been erected by Mr. Higgins, who, disappointed in his expectations, or disgusted with the country from other causes, sold it to Don Francisco and Mr. Foster. They were sanguine in their expecta- tions of profit; for they supposed that, by furnishing a market, the people would be induced to work and raise cotton enough for exportation to Europe. The re- sources of this distracted country are incalculable. Peace and industry would open fountains which would overflow with wealth; and I have no doubt the influ- ence of this single factory will be felt in quieting and enriching the whole district within its reach.
30 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
I accompanied Mr. Foster to Realejo, which was only half an hour’s ride. The harbour, Huarros says, is capable of containing a thousand ships; but, beg two or three leagues distant, I was unable to visit it. The town, consisting of two or three streets, with low strag- gling houses, enclosed by a thick forest, was founded by a few of the companions of Alvarado, who stopped there on their expedition to Peru; but, beg so near the sea, and exposed to the incursions of the bucaniers, the inhabitants moved inland, and founded Leon.
At dark we returned to the factory, and Don Fran- cisco and I reached Chinandaga, where I was greeted with intelligence that the proprietor of the boat had sent word that he supposed I had a permission to embark from the chief of the state, as, by a late order, no per- son could embark without.. He was most provokingly out ip his supposition. I had entered the state by a frontier of wilderness, and had not once been asked for © a passport. The reader may remember how I was pre- vented visiting the chief of the state ; and, besides, when at Leon, I did not know whether I should continue by land or cross the gulf, and supposed that at the port of embarcation I could procure all that was necessary. I was excessively disturbed; but Don Francisco sent for the commandant of the town, who said that the order had not yet been sent to the port, but was in his hands, and he would retain it.
Early the next morning I sent on an ox wagon with the luggage and a stock of corn and grass for the mules during the voyage, and, after a pleasant ride of a league, reached the Viejo, one of the most respectable-looking towns in Nicaragua. The house of the owner of the bungo was one of the largest in the place, and furnish- ed with two mahogany sofas made by a Yankee cabi-
PORT OF NAGOSCOLO. 31
net-maker in Lima, two looking-glasses with gilt frames, a French clock, gilt chairs with cane bottoms, and two Boston rocking-chairs, which had made the passage round Cape Horn. Don Francisco went over to the commandant. He, unluckily, had received his orders direct from the government, and dared not let me pass. I went over myself with Mr. Foster. The order was positive, and I was inagony. Here I made a push with my official character, and after an hour’s torment, by the warm help of Mr. Foster, and upon his undertaking to save the commandant harmless, and to send an ex- press immediately to Leon for a passport from the chief of the state, it was agreed that in the mean time I might go on.
I did not wait long, but, taking leave of Mr. Foster and Don Francisco, set out for the port. It was seven leagues, through an unbroken forest. On the way I overtook my bungo men, nearly naked, moving in sin- gle file, with the pilot at their head, and each carrying on his back an open network containing tortillas and provisions for the voyage. At half past two we reach- ed the port of Nagoscolo. There was a single hut, at which a woman was washing corn, with a naked child near her on the ground, its face, arms, and body one running sore, a picture of squalid poverty. In front was a large muddy plain, through the centre of which ran a straight cut called a canal, with an embankment on one side dry, the mud baked hard and bleached by the sun. In this ditch lay several bungoes high and dry, adding to the ugliness of the picture. I had a feeling of great satisfaction that I was not obliged to re- main there long; but the miserable woman, with a tone of voice that seemed to rejoice in the chance of making others as miserable as herself, desisted from washing
32 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
her maize, and screeched in my ears that a guarda had been sent direct from the capital, with orders to let no one embark without a passport. The guarda had gone down the river in a canoe, in search of a bungo which had attempted to go away without a passport; and I walked down the bank of the canal in hope to catch him > alone when he returned. ‘The sun was scorching hot,’ and as I passed the bungoes the boatmen asked me if I had a passport. At the end of the canal, under the shade of a large tree, were two women; and they had been in that place three days, waiting for one of their party who had gone to Leon to procure a passport.
It was more than an hour before the guarda appear- ed. He was taken by the eagle on my hat, and. while I told him my story, said ‘Si, sefior,”’ to everything ; but when I talked of embarking, said, ‘‘ Sefior, you have no passport.”? I will not inflict upon the reader the details of all my vexations and anxiety that after- noon. I was most eager tohurry on. To send a cou- rier to Leon would keep me in suspense insufferable. Some difficulty might happen, and the only way for peace of mind was to return myself. I had already made a longer journey than is ever made in the coun- try without an interval of rest. The road before me led through the seat of war, and four days’ detention might throw me into the midst of it. (In fact, the result proved that one day would have done so.) I walked with the guarda to the hut, and in greater anxiety than I had felt simce my departure from home, showed him my papers—a larger bundle, perhaps, than he had ever seen before, and with bigger seals, partic- ularly my original passport from my own government— jumbling together his government and my government, the amicable relations existing between them, and try-
EMBARKING MULES. 30
ing to give him an overwhelming idea of my impor- tance; but he knew no more what it meant than if I had repeated to him in English the fifth problem in Eu- clid. The poor man was almost in as great perplexity asI was. Several times he assented and retracted ; and at length, upon my giving him a letter promising him the protection of Mr. Foster and the commandant at Viejo, he agreed to let the bungo go.
It was about an hour before dark when we went down to embark the mules. My bungo was at the extreme end of the carial, and the tide had risen so that she was afloat. We began with the gray, by casting a noose around her legs, drawing them together, and throwing her down. ‘The men then attempted to lift her up bod- ily over the side of the bungo; but failing in this, took off the rudder, and leaning it against the side, hauled the mule up it, then tilted the rudder, and dropped her into the boat. In the mean time the macho stood under a tree, looking on very suspiciously, and with fearful fore- bodings. ‘The noose was put round his legs, with a rope before and behind to pull on, and struggling desper- ately, he was thrown down, but hardly touched the ground before, with a desperate effort, he broke the ropes and rose upon his feet. A second attempt was | more successful; but the two abreast made a close fit, and I was obliged to leave behind the luggage mule. I paid the guarda to take her to Mr. Foster, but whether she reached him or not I have never-heard.
We were assisted by the boatmen of another bungo, and I ordered supper and agua ardiente for the whole.
_ This was furnished at the hut by the guarda, and when
it was over, the men, all in good spirits, commenced
i: ad taking the luggage on board. At this time some who
were detained were grumbling, and a new man entered Vou. IIl.—E
34 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
the hut, as he said direct from the Pueblo, who croaked in my ears the odious order, and the guard again made objections. I was excessively vexed by this last inter- ruption; and fairly bullying the new comer out of the hut, told the guard that the thing was settled and I would not be trifled with, took up my gun, and told the men to follow me. I saw beforehand that they were ele-’ vated by their good cheer, and that I could rely upon them. The guard, and all those compelled to wait, followed; but we got on board, and my crew were so tipsy that they defied all opposition. One push clear- ed the bungo from the canal, and as she was passing out a stranger unexpectedly stepped on board, and in the dark slipped down under the awning with the mules. I was surprised and a little indignant that he had not asked leave, and it occurred to me that he was a partisan who might compromise me; but to return might lead to new difficulty, and, besides, he was probably some poor fellow escaping for his life, and it was better that I should know nothing about it. In the midst of my doubts a man on the bank cried out that fifty soldiers had ar- rived from Leon. It was pitchy dark ; we could see no- thing, and my men answered with a shout of defiance.
In the mean time we were descending rapidly, whirl- ing around and hitting against the branches of trees; the mules were thrown down, the awning carried away, and in the midst of darkness and confusion we struck with a violent crash against another bungo, which knock- ed us all into a heap, and I thought would send us to the bottom. The men rose with roars of laughter. It was a bad beginning. Still I was overjoyed at being clear of the port, and there was a wild excitement in the scene itself. At length the men sat down to the oars, and pulled for a few minutes as if they would tear the old
' A BUNGO. 35
bungo out of the water, shouting all the time lke spirits of darkness let loose. The pilot sat quietly at the helm, without speaking, and dark as it was, at times I saw a smile steal over his face at wild sallies of the boatmen. Again they began rowing furiously as before, and sud- denly one of the sweeps broke and the oarsman fell backward. The pungo was run up among the trees, and the men climbed ashore by the branches. ‘The blows of machetes, mingled with shouts-and laughter, rang through the woods; they were the noisiest party 1 met in Central America. In the dark they cut down a dozen saplings before they found what they wanted, and in about an hour returned, and the shattered awning was refitted. By this time they were more sobered ; and taking their sweeps, we moved silently down the dark river until one o’clock, when we came to anchor. The bungo was about forty feet long, dug out of the trunk of a Guanacaste tree, about five feet wide and nearly as deep, with the bottom round, and a toldo or awning, round like the top of a market-wagon, made of matting and bulls’ hides, covered ten feet of the stern. Beyond were six seats across the sides of the bungo for the oarsmen. The whole front was necessary for the men, and in reality I had only the part occupied by the awning, where, with the mules as tenants in common, there were too many of us. They stood abreast, with their halters tied to the first bench. The bottom was rounding, and gave them an unsteady foothold; and when the boat heaved they had a scramble to preserve their centre of gravity. The space between their heels and the end of the log or stern of the bungo was my sleeping-room. Nicolas was afraid to pass between the mules to get a place among the men, and he could not climb over the awning. I had their heads tethered
36 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
close up to the bench, and putting him outside to catch the first kick, drew up against the stern of the ennee and. went to sleep.
At half past seven we weighed anchor, or hauled up a large stone, and started with oars. My boatmen were peculiar in their way of wearing pantaloons. First they pulled them off, folded them about a foot wide and two feet long, and then suspended them over the belts of their machetes like little aprons. At nine o’clock we reached the mouth of the river. Here we hoisted sail, and while the wind was fair did very well. The sun was scorching, and under the awning the heat was insufferable. Following the coast, at eleven o’clock we were opposite the Volcano of Cosaguina, a long, dark mountain range, with another ridge running below it, and then an extensive plain covered with lava tothe sea. 'The wind headed us, and in order to weath- er the point of headland from which we could lay our course, the boatmen got into the water to tow the bungo. I followed them, and with a broad-brimmed straw hat to protect me from the sun, I found the water was de- lightful. During this time one of the men brought sand — from the shore to break the roundness of the bottom of the boat, and give the mules a foothold. Unable to weather the point, at half past one we came to anchor, and very soon every man on board was asleep.
I woke with the pilot’s legs resting on my shoulder. It was rather an undignified position, but no one saw it. Before me was the Volcano of Cosaguina, with its field of lava and its desolate shore, and not a living being was in sight except my sleeping boatmen. Five years before, on the shores of the Mediterranean, and at the foot of Mount Etna, I read in a newspaper an account of the eruption of this voleano. Little did I then ever
EFFECTS OF AN ERUPTION. 37
expect to see it; the most awful in the history of vol- eanic eruptions, the noise of which startled the people of Guatimala four hundred miles off; and at Kingston, Jamaica, eight hundred miles distant, was supposed to be signal guns of distress from some vessel atsea. ‘The face of nature was changed; the cone of the volcano was gone; a mountain and field of lava ran down to the sea; a forest old as creation had entirely disappear- ed, and two islands were formed in the sea; shoals were discovered, in one of which a large tree was fixed upside down; one river was completely choked up, and another formed, running in an opposite direction; seven men in the employ of my bungo-proprietor ran down to the water, pushed off in a bungo, and were never heard of more; wild beasts, howling, left their caves in the mountains, and ounces, leopards, and snakes fled for shelter to the abodes of men.
This eruption took place on the 20th of January, 1835. Mr. Savage was on that day on the side of the Volcano of San Miguel, distant one hundred and twenty miles, looking for cattle. At eight o’clock he saw a dense cloud rising in the south in a pyramidal form, and heard a noise which sounded like the roaring of the sea. .Very soon the thick clouds were lighted up by vivid flashes, rose-coloured and forked, shooting and disappearing, which he ‘supposed to be some electrical phenomenon. These appearances increased so fast that his men became frightened, and said it was a ruina, and that the end of the world was nigh. Very soon he himself was satisfied that it was the eruption of a vol- cano; and as Cosaguina was at that time a quiet mountain, not suspected to contain subterraneous fires, he supposed it to proceed from the Volcano of Tigris. He returned to the town of San Miguel, and in riding
4
38 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
three blocks felt three severe shocks of earthquake. The inhabitants were distracted with terror. Birds flew wildly through the streets, and, blinded by the dust, fell dead on the ground. At four o’clock it was so dark that, as Mr. S. says, he held up his hand before his eyes, and could not see it. Nobody moved with- out a candle, which gave a dim and misty light, ex- tending only a few feet. At this time the church was full, and could not contain half who wished to enter The figure of the Virgin was brought out into the plaza and borne through the streets, followed by the inhabi- tants, with candles and torches, in penitential proces sion, crying upon the Lord to pardon their sins. Bells tolled, and during the procession there was anothe) earthquake, so violent and long that it threw to the ground many people walking in the procession. The darkness continued till eleven o’clock the next day when the sun was partially visible, but dim and hazy, and without any brightness. ‘'he dust on the ground was four inches thick; the branches of trees broke with its weight, and sieoyflt were so disfigured by it that they could not be recognised.
At this time Mr. 8. set out for his hacienda at Zon- zonate. He slept at the first village, and at two or three o’clock in the morning was roused by a report like the breaking of most terrific thunder or the firing of thousands of cannon. This was the report which startled the people of Guatimala, when the command- ant sallied out, supposing that the quartel was attacked, and which was heard at Kingston in Jamaica. It was accompanied by an earthquake so violent that it almost threw Mr. S. out of his hammock.*
* This may at first appear no great feat for an earthquake, but no stronger proof can be cited of the violence with which the shock affects the region in which it occurs.
LA UNION. 39
Toward evening my men all’ woke; the wind was fair, but they took things quietly, and after supper hoist- ed sail. About twelve o’clock, by an amicable arrange- ment, I stretched myself on the pilot’s bench under the tiller, and when I woke we had passed the Volcano of Tigris, and were in an archipelago of islands more beau- tiful than the islands of Greece. ‘The wind died away, and the boatmen, after playing for a little while with the oars, again let fall the big stone and went to sleep. Outside the awning the heat of the sun was withering, under it the closeness was suffocating, and my poor mules had had no water since their embarcation. In the confusion of getting away I had forgotten it till the moment of departure, and then there was no vessel in which to carry it. After giving them a short nap I roused the men, and with the promise of a reward in- duced them to take to their oars. Fortunately, before they got tired we had a breeze, and at about four o’clock in the afternoon the big stone was dropped in the har- bour of La Union, in front of the town. One ship. was lying at anchor, a whaler from Chili, which had put in in distress and been condemned.
The commandant was Don Manuel Romero, one of iMorazan’s veterans, who was anxious to retire altogeth- er from public life, but remained in office because, in his present straits, he could be useful to his benefactor and friend. He had heard of me, and his attentions reminded me of, what I sometimes forgot, but which others very rarely did, my official character ; he invited me to his house while I remained in La Union, but gave me intelligence which made me more anxious than ever to hurry on. General Morazan had left the port but a few days before, having accompanied his family thither on their way to Chili. On his return to San Salvador
40 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
he intended to march directly against Guatimala. By forced marches I might overtake him, and go up under the escort of his army, trusting to chance to avoid being on the spot in case of a battle, or from my acquaintance with Carrera get passed across the lines. Fortunately, the captain of the condemned ship wished to go to San Salvador, and agreed to accompany me the next day.
There were two strangers in the place, Captain R. of Honduras, and Don Pedro, a mulatto, both of whom were particularly civil to me. In the evening my proposed travelling companion and I called upon them, and very soon a game of cards was proposed. The doors were closed, wine placed on the table, and monte begun with doubloons. Captain R. and Don Pedro tried hard to make me join them; and when I rose to leave, Captain R., as if he thought there could be but one reason for my resisting, took me aside, and said that if I wanted money he was my friend, while Don Pedro declared that he was not rich, but that he had a big heart; that he was happy of my acquaint- ance; he had had the honour to know a consul once before at Panama, and I might count upon him for any- thing I wanted. Gambling is one of the great vices of the country, and that into which strangers are most apt to fall. The captain had fallen in with a set at San Miguel, and these two had come down to the port ex- pressly to fleece him. During the night he detected them cheating; and telling them that he had learned in Chili to use a knife as well as they could, laid his cane over the shoulders of him who had had the honour to know a consul once before, and broke up the party. There is an oldfashioned feeling of respect for a man who wears a sword, but that feeling wears off in Central America.
JOURNEY TO SAN SALVADOR. 41
CHAPTER III.
Journey to San Salvador.—A new Companion.—San Alejo.—San Miguel.—War Alarms. — Another Countryman. — State of San Salvador. — River Lempa. — San Vicente.—Volcano of San Vicente.—Thermal Springs.—Cojutepeque.— Arrival at San Salvador. — Prejudice against Foreigners. — Contributions, — Pressgangs.—Vice-president Vigil—Taking of San Miguel and San Vicente. —Rumours of a March upon San Salvador.—Departure from San Salvador. *
At five o’clock the next afternoon we set out for San Salvador. Don Manuel Romero furnished me with let- ters of introduction to all the Gefes Politicos, and the captain’s name was inserted in my passport.
I must introduce the reader to my new friend. Cap- tain Antonio V. F., a little over thirty, when six months out on a whaling voyage, with a leaky ship and a mutinous crew, steered across the Pacific for the Continent of America, and reached the port of La Union with seven or eight feet water in the hold and half his crew in irons. He knew nothing of Central America until necessity threw him upon its shore. While waiting the slow process of a regular condem- nation and order for the sale of his ship, General Mo- razan, with an escort of officers, came to the port to embark his wife and family for Chili. Captain F’. had become acquainted with them, and through them with their side of the politics of the country; and in the evening, while we were riding along the ridge of a high mountain, he told me that he had been offered a lieu- tenant-colonel’s commission, and was then on his way to join Morazan in his march against Guatimala. His ship was advertised for sale, he had written an account of his misadventures to his owners and his wife, was
Vou. I.—F
42 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
tired of remaining at the port, and a campaign with Morazan was the only thing that offered. He liked General Morazan, and he liked the country, and thought his wife would ; if Morazan succeeded there would be vacant offices and estates without owners, and some of them worth having. He went from whaling te cam- paigning as coolly as a Yankee would from cutting down trees to editing a newspaper. It was no affair of mine, but I suggested that there was no honour to be gained ; that he would get his full share of hard knocks, bullets, and sword-cuts; that if Morazan sueceeded he would have a desperate struggle for his share of the spoils, and if Morazan failed he would certainly be shot. All this was matter he had thought on, and before com- mitting himself he intended to make his observations at San Salvador. |
At ten o’clock we reached the village of San Alejo, and stopped at a very comfortable house, where all were in a state of excitement from the report of an in- vasion from Honduras.
Karly the next morning we started with a new guide, and a little beyond the village he pointed out a place where his uncle was murdered and robbed about a year before. Four of the robbers were caught, and sent by the alcalde, under a guard of the relations of the mur- dered man, to San Miguel, with directions to the guard to shoot them if refractory. The guard found them re- fractory at the very place where the murder had been committed, and shot them on the spot. At eight o’clock we came in sight of the Volcano of San Miguel, and at two entered the city. Riding up the street, we passed a large church with its front fallen, and. saw paimtings on the walls, and an altar forty feet high, with columns, and images sculptured and gilded, exposed to the open
SAN MIGUEL. 43
air. All along the road we had heard of war, and we found the city in a state of great excitement. The troops of Honduras were marching upon it, and then only twelve leagues distant. There were no soldiers to defend it; all had been drawn off for Morazan’s expe- dition. Many of the citizens had already fled; in fact, the town was half depopulated, and the rest were pre- paring to save themselves by concealment or flight. We stopped at the house of John, or Don Juan, Den- ning, an American from Connecticut, who had sold an armed brig to the Federal Government, and command- ed her himself during the blockade of Omoa, but had married in the country, and for several years, lived re- tired on his hacienda. His house was deserted and stripped, the furniture and valuables were hidden, and his mother-in-law, an old lady, remained in the empty tenement. Nobody thought of resistance ; and the cap- tain bought a silver-mounted sword from one of the most respectable citizens, who was converting his use- less trappings into money, and who, with a little trunk in his hand containing la plata, pointed to a fine horse in the courtyard, and without a blush on his face said that was his security.
The captain had great difficulty in procuring mules ; he had two enormous trunks, containing, among other things, Peruvian chains and other gold trinkets to a large amount; in fact, all he was worth.. In the evening we walked to the plaza; groups of men, wrapped in their ponchas, were discussing in low tones the movements of the enemy, how far they had marched that day, how long they would require for rest, and the moment when it would be necessary to fly. We returned to the house, placed two naked wooden-bottomed bedsteads in one, and having ascertained by calculation that we were not
44 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
likely to be disturbed during the night, forgot the troub- les of the flying inhabitants, and slept soundly.
On account of the difficulty of procuring mules, we did not set out till ten o’clock. The climate is the hot- test in Central America, and insalubrious under expo- sure to the sun; but we would not wait. Every mo- ment there were new rumours of the approach of the ' Honduras army, and it was all important for us to keep in advance of them. I shall hasten over our hurried journey through the State of San Salvador, the richest in Central America, extending a hundred and eighty miles along the shores of the Pacific, producing tobac- co, the best indigo and richest balsam in the world. We had mountains and rivers, valleys and immense ra- vines, and the three great volcanoes of San Miguel, San Vicente, and San Salvador, one or the other of which was almost constantly in sight. The whole surface is volcanic; for miles the road lay over beds of decom- — Me posed lava, inducing the belief that here the whole shore _ . Es of the Pacific is an immense arch over subterraneous | fires. From the time of the independence this state stood foremost in the maintenance of liberal principles, and throughout it exhibits an appearance of improve- ment, a freedom from bigotry and fanaticism, and a de- velopment of physical and moral energy not found in any other. ‘The San Salvadoreans are the only men who speak of sustaining the integrity of the Republic as a point of national honour.
In the afternoon of the second day we came in sight of the Lempa, now a gigantic river rolling. on to the Pacific. Three months before I had seen it a little stream among the mountains of Esquipulas. Here we were overtaken by Don Carlos Rivas, a leading Liber- al from Honduras, flying for life before partisan sol-
@
THERMAL SPRINGS. 45
diers of his own state. We descended to the bank of the river, and followed it through a wild forest, which had been swept by a tornado, the trees still lying as they fell. At the crossing-place the valley of the river was half a mile wide ; but being the dry season, on this side there was a broad beach of sand and stones. We rode to the water’s edge, and shouted for the boatman on the opposite side. Other parties arrived, all fugi- tives, among them the wife and family of Don Carlos, and we formed a crowd upon the shore. At length the boat came, took on board sixteen mules, saddles, and luggage, and as many men, women, and children as could stow themselves away, leaving a multitude behind. We crossed in the dark, and on the opposite side found “every hut and shed filled with fugitives; families in dark masses were under the trees, and men and wom- en crawled out to congratulate friends who had put _ the Lempa between them and the enemy. We slept - upon our luggage on the bank of the river, and before : daylight were again in the saddle. That night we slept at San Vicente, and the next
tg
morning the captain, in company with an invalid offi-
cer of Morazan’s, who had been prevented by sick- ness from accompanying the general in his march against Guatimala, rode on with the luggage, while I, with Colonel Hoyas, made a circuit to visit El Infierno of the Volcano of San Vicente. Crossing a beautiful plain . running to the base of the volcano, we left our animals at a hut, and walked some distance to a stream in a deep ravine, which we followed upward to its source, eom- ing from the very base of the volcano. The water was” warm, and had a taste of vitriol, and the banks were incrusted with white vitriol and flour of sulphur. At a distance of one or two hundred yards it formed a ba-
46 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
sin, where the water was hotter than the highest grade of my Reaumur’s thermometer. In several places we heard subterranean noises, and toward the end of the ravine, on the slope of one side, was an orifice about thirty feet in diameter, from which, with a terrific noise, boiling water was spouted into the air. This is called El Infiernillo, or the ‘ little infernal regions.’’ ‘The in- habitants say that the noise is increased by the slight- est agitation of the air, even by the human voice. Ap- proaching to within range of the falling water, we shout- ed several times, and as we listened and gazed into the fearful cavity, I imagined that the noise was louder and more angry, and that the boiling water spouted higher at our call. Colonel Hoyas conducted me to a path, from which I saw my road, like a white line, over a high verdant mountain. He told me that many of the inhabitants of San Miguel had fled to San Vicente, and at that place the Honduras arms would be repel- led; we parted, little expecting to see each other again so soon, and under such unpleasant circumstances for him.
I overtook the captain at a village where he had — breakfast prepared, and in the afternoon we arrived at Cojutepeque, until within two days the temporary cap- ital, beautifully situated at the foot of a small extinct volcano, its green and verdant sides broken only by a winding path, and on the top a fortress, which Morazan had built as his last raliying-place, to die under the flag of the Republic.
_ The next day at one o’clock we reached San Salva- dor. Entering by a fine gate, and through suburbs teeming with fruit and flower trees, the meanness of the houses was hardly noticed. Advancing, we saw heaps of rubbish, and large houses with their fronts cracked
SAN SALVADOR. 47
and falling, marks of the earthquakes which had broken it up as the seat of government, and almost depopula- ted the city. This series of earthquakes commenced on the third of the preceding October (the same day on which I sailed for that country), and for twenty days the earth was tremulous, sometimes suffering fifteen or twenty shocks in twenty-four hours, and one so severe that, as Mr. Chatfield told me, a bottle standing in hé sleeping-room was thrown down. Most of the inhabi- tants abandoned the city, and those who remained slept under matting in the courtyards of their houses. Every house was more or less injured ; some were rendered untenantable, and many were thrown down. 'T'wo-days before, the vice-president and officers of the Federal and State Governments, impelled by the crisis of the times, had returned to their shattered capital. It was about one o ’clock, intensely hot, and there was no shade ; ; the streets were solitary, the doors and windows of the houses closed, the shops around the plaza shut, the little matted tents of the market-women deserted, and the inhabitants, forgetting earthquakes, and that a hos- tile army was marching upon them, were taking their noonday siesta. In a corner of the plaza was a barri- cado, constructed with trunks of trees, rude as an In-. dian fortress, and fortified with cannon, intended as the scene of the last effort for the preservation of the city. A few soldiers were asleep under the corridor of the quartel, and a sentinel was pacing before the door. Inquiring our way of him, we turned the corner of the plaza, and stopped at the house of Don Pedro Negrete, at that time acting as vice-consul both of England and France, and the only representative at the capital of any foreign power. |
It was one of the features of this unhappy revolution,
48 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
that the Liberal party, before the friends and _ support- ers of foreigners, manifested a violent feeling against them, particularly the English, ostensibly on account of their occupation of the miserable little Island of Ro- atan, in the Bay of Honduras. The press, i.e., a little weekly published at San Salvador, teemed with inflam- matory articles against los Ingleses, their usurpation and ambition, and their unjust design of adding to their extended dominions the republic of Central America. It was a desperate effort to sustain a par- ty menaced with destruction by rousing the national prejudice against strangers. A development of this spirit was seen in the treaty of alliance between San Salvador and Quezaltenango, the only two states that sustained the Federal Government, by which, in Au- gust preceding, it was agreed that their delegates to the national convention should be instructed to treat, in preference to all other things, upon measures to be ta- ken for the recovery of the Island of Roatan; and that no production of English soil or industry, even though it came under the flag of another nation, and no effect of any other nation, though a friendly one, if it came in an English vessel, should be admitted into the territory until England restored to Central America the possession of that island. I do not mean to say that they were wrong in putting forth their claims to this island—the English flag was planted upon it in a very summary way—nor that they were wrong in rec- ommending the only means in their power to redress what they considered an injury; for, as England had not declared war with China, it would have been rash for the states of San Salvador and Los Altos to involve themselves in hostilities with that overgrown power ; but no formal complaint was ever made, and no nego-
EXCITEMENT AGAINST FOREIGNERS. 49
@iation proposed; and on the publication of this trea- ty, which Mr. Chatfield, the British consul general, con- sidered disrespectful and injurious to his government, he addressed a note to the vice-president, requesting a categorical answer to the question “if the Federal Government did exist or not’’ (precisely what I was anxious to know); to which he received no answer. Afterward Mr. Chatfield visited Nicaragua, and the government of that state sent him a communication, re- questing his mediation in settling the difficulties be- tween the states of San Salvador and Honduras, then at war, and through him the guarantee of the Queen of England to compel the fulfilment of any treaty made between them. Mr. Chatfield, in his answer, referred to his letter to the vice-president, and spoke of the gov- ernment as the ‘so-called Federal Government.”’ The correspondence was published, and increased the exasperation against Mr. Chatfield and foreigners gen- erally ; they were denounced as instigators and sup- porters of the revolution; their rights and privileges as residents discussed, and finally the injustice of their en- joying the protection of the government! without con- tributing to the expenses of supporting it. The result was, that on the levying of a new forced loan, foreign- ers were included in the liability, and a peremptory or- der was issued, requiring them, in case of refusal to pay, to leave the country in eight days. The foreigners were violently exasperated. There were not more than a dozen in the state, and most of them being en- gaged in business which it would be ruinous to leave, were compelled to pay. Two or three who wanted to leave before walked off, and called themselves mar- tyrs, threatened the vengeance of their government, and talked of the arrival of a British ship-of-war. Mr. Vou. Il.—G 9)
50 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
Kilgour, a British subject, refused to pay. The aup thorities had orders to give him his passport to leave the state. Don Pedro Negrete, as vice-consul of France, Encargado de la Ingelterra, presented a remonstrance. The vice-president’s answer (in part but too true), as it contains the grounds of the law, and shows the state of feeling existing at the time, I give in his own words:
‘‘ Strangers in these barbarous countries, as they call them, ought not to expect to have the advantage of be- ing protected in their property without aiding the gov- ernment in it. We are poor, and if, in any of the con- vulsions which are so frequent in new countries that have hardly begun their political career, strangers suf- er losses, they at once have recourse to their govern- ments, that the nations in which they come to speculate, not without knowledge of the risks, pay them double or treble of what they have lost. This is unjust in every point of view, when they do not care with a slight loan to aid the government in its most urgent necessities. ‘What ought the government to do ? to tell them, ‘ Away with you, I cannot secure your property; or, lend me a certain sum in order to enable me to secure it.’ On the other hand, if it happens that a strong party or faction, as it is called, prevails, and falls upon your property the same as upon the property of the sons of the country and the public rents, and you complain to your nation, she comes and blockades our ports, and makes the poor na- tion pay a thousand per cent.”
Mr. Mercer, a French merchant, was absent at the time of enforcing the contributions. Don Pedro was his agent under a power of attorney, and had charge of his goods, and refused to pay. The government insist- ed; Don Pedro was determined. The government sent soldiers to his house. Don Pedro said he would
VICE-PRESIDENT VIGIL. 51
whoist the French flag; the chief of the state said he would tear it down. Don Pedro was imprisoned in his own house, his family excluded from him, and his food handed in by a soldier, until a friend paid the money. Don Pedro contended that the majesty of France was violated in his person; the government said that the proceedings were against him as the agent of Mercer, and not as French consul; but any way, consul or agent, Don Pedro’s body bore the brunt, and as this took place but two days before our arrival, Don Pedro was still in bed from the indisposition brought upon him by vexation and anxiety. We received the above, with many details, from Don Pedro’s son, as an apolo- gy for his father’s absence, and an explanation of the ravings we heard in the adjoining room.
In the evening I called upon the vice-president. Great changes had taken place since I saw him at Zon- zonate. The troops of the Federal Government had been routed in Honduras; Carrera had conquered Quez- altenango, garrisoned it with his own soldiers, destroy- ed its existence as a separate state, and annexed it to Guatimala. San Salvador stood alone in support of the Federal Government. But Sefior Vigil had risen with the emergency. The chief of the state, a bold-looking mulatto, and other officers of the government, were with him. They knew that the Honduras troops were marching upon the city, had reason to fear they would be joined by those of Nicaragua, but they were not dis- mayed; on the contrary, all showed a resolution and energy I had not seen before. General Morazan, they said, was on his march against Guatimala. ‘Tired as they were of war, the people of San Salvador, Sefior Vigil said, had risen with new enthusiasm. Volun- ‘teers were flocking in from all quarters; and with a de-
52 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
termination that was imposing, though called out by civil war, he added that they were resolved to sustain the Federation, or die under the ruins of San Salva- dor. It was the first time my feelings had been at all roused. In all the convulsions of the time I had seen no flash of heroism, no high love of country. Self- preservation and self-aggrandizement were the ruling passions. It was a bloody scramble for power and place; and sometimes, as I rode through the beautiful country, and saw what Providence had done for them, and how unthankful they were, I thought it would bea good riddance if they would play out the game of the Kilkenny cats. It was a higher tone than I was accus- tomed to, when the chief men of a single state, with an invading army at their door, and their own soldiers away, expressed the stern resolution to sustain the Fed- eration, or die under the ruins of the capital. But they did not despair of the Republic; the Honduras troops would be repulsed at San Vicente, and General Mora- zan would take Guatimala. The whole subject of the revolution was discussed, and the conversation was deeply interesting to me, for I regarded it as touching matters of lifeand death. I could not compromise them by anything I might say, for they are all in exile, under sentence of death if they return. ‘They did not speak in the ferocious and sanguinary spirit I afterward heard imputed to them at Guatimala, but they spoke with great bitterness of gentlemen whom I considered per- sonal friends, who, they said, had been before spared by their lenity ; and they added, in tones that could not be misunderstood, that they would not make such a mistake again. |
In the midst of this confusion, where was my gov- ernment ? I had travelled all over the country, led on
UNCERTAINTY. 53
by a glimmering light shining and disappearing, and I could not conceal from myself that the crisis of my for- tune was at hand. All depended upon the success of Morazan’s expedition. If he failed, my occupation was gone ; but in this darkest hour of the Republic I did not despair. In ten years of war Morazan had never been beaten; Carrera would not dare fight him; Guatimala would fall; the moral effect would be felt all over the country; Quezaltenango would shake off its chains; the strong minority in the other states would rise; the flag of the Republic would once more wave triumphant- ly, and out of chaos the government I was in search of would appear.
Nevertheless, I was not so sure of it as to wait qui- etly till it came to me at San Salvador. The result was very uncertain, and if it should be a protracted war, I might be cut off from Guatimala, without any opportu- nity of serving my country by diplomatic arts, and pre- vented from prosecuting other objects more interesting than the uncertain pursuit in which I was then engaged. The design which the captain had in coming up to San Salvador had failed; he could not join Morazan’s ex- pedition ; but he had nothing to do at the port, was anx- ious to see Guatimala, had a stock of jewelry and other things which he might dispose of there, and was so sure of Morazan’s success that he determined to go on and pay him a visit, and have the benefits of balls and other rejoicings attendant upon his triumph.
In the excitement and alarm of the place, it was very difficult to procure mules. As to procuring them direct for Guatimala, it was impossible. No one would move on that road until the result of Morazan’s expedition was known; and even to get them for Zonzonate it was necessary to wait a day. ‘That day I intended to ab-
54 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
stract myself from the tumult of the city and ascend the Volcano of San Salvador; but the next morning a woman came to inform us that one of our men had been taken by a pressgang of soldiers, and was in the carcel. We followed her to the place, and, being invited in by the officer to pick out our man, found ourselves surrounded bya hundred of Vigil’s volunteers, of every grade in ap- pearance and character, from the frightened servant-boy torn from his master’s door to the worst of desperadoes ; some asleep on the ground, some smoking stumps of ci- gars, some sullen, and others perfectly reckless. Two of the supreme worst did me the honour to say they liked my looks, called me captain, and asked me to take them into my company. Our man was not ambitious, and could do better than be shot at for a shilling a day ; but we could not take him out without an order from the chief of the state, and went immediately to the office of the government, where I was sorry to meet Sefior Vigil, as the subject of my visit and the secrets of the prison were an unfortunate comment upon his boasts of the enthusiasm of the people in taking up arms. With his usual courtesy, however, he directed the proper or- der to be made out, and the names of all in my service to be sent to the captains of the different pressgangs, with orders not to touch them. All day men were caught and brought in, and petty officers were stationed along the street drilling them. In the afternoon intelli- gence was received that General Morazan’s advanced guard had defeated a detachment of Carrera’s troops, and that he was marching with an accession of forces upon Guatimala. A feu de joie was fired in the plaza, and all the church bells rang peals of victory.
In the evening I saw Senor Vigil again and alone He was confident of the result. The Honduras troops
“TAKING OF SAN MIGUEL. 55
would be repulsed at San Vicente; Morazan would take Guatimala. He urged me to wait; he had his preparations all made, his horses ready, and, on the first notice of Morazan’s entry, intended to go up to Guati- mala and establish that city once more as the capital. But I was afraid of delay, and we parted to meet in Guatimala; but we never met again. A few days af- terward he was flying for his life, and is now in exile, under sentence of death if he returns; the party that rules Guatimala is heaping opprobrium upon his name ; but in the recollection of my hurried tour I never for- get him who had the unhappy distinction of being vice- president of the Republic.
I did not receive my passport till late in the evening, and though I had given directions to the contrary, the captain’s name was inserted. We had already had a difference of opinion in regard to our movements. He was not so bent as I was upon pushing on to Guati- mala, and besides, I did not consider it right, in an official passport, to have the name of a partisan. Ac- cordingly, early in the morning I went to the Govern- ment House to have it altered. The separate passports were just handed to me when I heard a clatter in the streets, and fifteen or twenty horsemen galloped into the courtyard, covered with sweat and dust, among whom I recognised Colonel Hoyas, with his noble horse, so broken that I did not know him. They had ridden all night. The Honduras troops had taken San Miguel and San Vicente, and were then marching upon San Salvador. If not repulsed at Cojutepeque, that day they would be upon the eapital. For four days I had been running before these troops, and now, by a strange caprice, at the prospect of actual collision, I re- gretted that my arrangements were so far advanced,
56 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. ©
and that I had no necessity for remaining. I had a strong curlosity to see a city taken by assault, but, un- fortunately, I had not the least possible excuse. I had my passport in my hand and my mules were ready. Nevertheless, before I reached Don Pedro’s house I determined toremain. ‘The captain had his sword and spurs on, and was only waiting for me. I told him the news, and he uttered an exclamation of thankfulness that we were all ready, and mounted immediately. I added that I intended to remain. He refused; said that he knew the sanguinary character of the people better than I did, and did not wish to see an affair without having a hand in it. I replied, and after a short controversy, the result was as usual between, two obstinate men: I would not go and he would not stay. I sent my luggage-mules and servants under his charge, and he rode off, to stop for me at a hacienda on the road, while I unsaddled my horse and gave him an- other mess of corn.
In the mean time the news had spread, and great ex- citement prevailed in the city. Here there was no- thought of flight; the spirit of resistance was general. The impressed soldiers were brought out from the pris- ons and furnished with arms, and drums beat through the streets for volunteers. On my return from the Gov- ernment House I noticed a tailor on his board at work ; when I passed again his horse was at the door, his sob- bing wife was putting pistols in his holsters, and he was fastening on his spurs. Afterward I saw him mounted before the quartel, receiving a lance with a red flag, and then galloping off to take his place in the line. In two hours, all that the impoverished city could do was done. Vigil, the chief of the state, clerks, and household servants, were preparing for the last strug-
DEPARTURE. 57
gle. At twelve o’clock the city was as still as death. I lounged on the shady side of the plaza, and the quiet was fearful. At two o’clock intelligence was re- ceived that the troops of San Vicente had fallen back upon Cojutepeque, and that the Honduras troops had not yet come up. An order was immediately issued to make this the rallying-place, and to send thither the mustering of the city. About two hundred lancers set off from the plaza with a feeble shout, under a burning sun, and [returned to the house. The commotion sub- sided; my excitement died away, and I regretted that I had not set out with the captain, when, to my surprise, he rode into the courtyard. On the road he thought that he had left me in the lurch, and that, as a travel- ling companion, he ought to have remained with me. I had no such idea, but I was glad of his return, and mounted, and left my capital to its fate, even yet uncer- tain whether I had any government.
Vou. I.—H
58 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
CHAPTER IV.
Contributions.—El Baranco de Guaramal.—Volcano of Izaleco.—Depredations of Rascon.—Zonzonate.—News from Guatimala.—Journey continued.—Aguisal- co.—Apeneca.—Mountain of Aguachapa.—Subterranean Fires:—Aguachapa.— Defeat of Morazan.—Confusion and Terror.
Tue captain had given me a hint in a led horse which he kept for emergencies, and I had bought one of an officer of General Morazan, who sold him because he would not stand fire, and recommended him for a way he had of carrying his rider out of the reach of bullets. At the distance of two leagues we reached a hacien- da where our men were waiting for us with the luggage. It was occupied by a miserable old man alone, with a large swelling under his throat, very common all through this country, the same as is seen among the mountains of Switzerland. While the men were reloading, we heard the tramp of horses, and fifteen or twenty lancers galloped up to the fence; and the leader, a dark, stern, but respectable-looking man about forty, in a deep voice, called to the old man to get ready and mount; the time had come, he said, when every man must fight for his country ; if they had done so before, their own ships would be floating on the Atlantic and the Pacific, and they would not now be at the mercy of strangers and enemies. Altogether the speech was a good one, and would have done for a fourth of July oration or a ward meeting at home; but made from the back of a horse by a powerful man, well armed, and with twenty lan- cers at his heels, it was not pleasant in the ears of the ‘strangers’? for whom it was intended. Really I re- spected the man’s energy, but his expression and man- ner precluded all courtesies; and though he looked at
LETTER CARRYING. 59
us for an answer, we said nothing. The old man an- swered that he was too old to fight, and the officer told him then to help others to do so, and to contribute his horses or mules, This touched us again; and taking ours apart, we left exposed and alone an object more miserable as a beast than his owner was as a man. The old man said this was his all. The officer, look- ing as if he would like a pretext for seizing ours, told him to give her up; and the old man, slowly untying her, without a word led her to the fence, and handed the halter across to one of the lancers. They laughed as they received the old man’s all, and pricking the mule with their lances, galloped off in search of more ‘ con- tributions.”’
Unluckily, they continued on our road, and we fear- ed that parties were scouring the whole country to Zon- zonate. This brought to mind a matter that gave us much uneasiness. As the mail-routes were all broken up, and there was no travelling, I was made letter-car- rier all the way from Nicaragua. I had suffered so much anxiety from not receiving any letters myself, that I was glad to serve any one that asked me; but I had been treated with great frankness by the ‘‘ party’’ at San Salvador, and was resolved not to be the means of communicating anything to their enemies ; and with this view, always asked whether the letters contained any political information, never taking them until assured that they did not. But many of them were to Mr. Chatfield and the other Ingleses in Guatimala. There was a most bitter feeling against Mr. Chatfield, and the rudeness of this really respectable-looking man gave us some idea of the exasperation against foreigners gener- ally ; and as they were identified in the revolution, the directions alone might expose us to danger with any band of infuriated partisans who might take it into their
60 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
heads to search us on the road. If I had had a safe op- portunity, I should have sent them back to San Salvador. I could not intrust them with the old man, and we de- liberated whether it was not better to return, and wait the crisis at the capital; but we thought it an object to get near the coast, and perhaps within reach of a vessel, and determined to continue. In about an hour we pass- ed the same party dismounted, at some distance from the road, before the door of a large hacienda, with some of the men inside, and, fortunately, so far off that, though we heard them hallooing at us, we could not understand what they said. Soon after we descended a wild mount- ain-pass, and entered El] Baranco de Guaramal, a nar- row opening, with high perpendicular sides, covered with bushes, wild flowers, and moss, and roofed over by branches of large trees, which crossed each other from the opposite banks. A ‘large stream forced its way through the ravine, broken by trunks of trees and huge stones. For half a league our road lay in the bed of the stream, knee-deep for the mules. In one place, on the right-hand side, a beautiful cascade precipitated it- self from the top of the bank almost across the ravine. A little before dark, in a grassy recess at the foot of the bank, a pig-merchant had encamped for the night. His pigs were harnessed with straps and tied to a tree, and his wife was cooking supper; and when we told him of the foraging party at the other end of the ravine, he trembled for his pigs. Some time after dark we reach- ed the hacienda of Guaramal. There was plenty of sa- cate in an adjoining field, but we could not get any one to cut it. The major-domo was an old man, and the workmen were afraid of snakes. Bating this, however, we fared well, and had wooden bedsteads to sleep on’, and in one corner was a small space parti- tioned off-for the major-domo and his wife, .
TH)
Pyro
DEPREDATIONS OF RASCON. 61
Before daylight we were in the saddle, and rode till eleven, when we stopped at a small village to feed our mules and avoid the heat of the day. At three we started. ‘Toward evening I heard once more the deep rumbling noise of the Volcano of Izalco, sounding like distant thunder. We passed along its base, and stop- ped at the same house at which I had put up on my visit to the volcano. The place was in a state of per- fect anarchy and misrule. Since my departure, Rascon, rendered more daring by the abject policy of the gov- ernment, had entered Zonzonate, robbed the custom- house again, laid contributions upon some of the citi- zens, thence marched to Izalco, and quartered his whole band upon the town.’ Unexpectedly, he was sur- prised at night by a party of Morazan’s soldiers; he himself escaped in his shirt, but nineteen of his men were killed and his band broken up. Lately the sol- diers were called off to join Morazan’s expedition, and the dispersed band emerged from their hiding-places. Some were then living publicly in the town, perfectly lawless ; had threatened to kill the alcalde if he attempt- ed to disturb them, and kept the town in a state of ter- ror.. Among those who reappeared I was told there was a young American del Norte, whom I recognised, from the description, as Jemmy, whom I had put on board his ship at Acajutla. He and the other American had deserted, and attempted to cross over to the Atlantic on foot. On the way they fell in with Rascon’s band and joined them. The other man was killed at the time of the rout, but Jemmy escaped. I was happy to hear that Jemmy, by his manners and good conduct, had made a favourable impression upon the ladies of Izalco. He remained only three days, and whither he had gone no one knew.
6
62 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL
While listening to this account we heard a noise in the street, and looking out of the window, saw a man on the ground, and another striking at him with a white club, which by the moonlight looked like the blade of a broadsword or machete. A crowd gathered, mostly of women, who endeavoured to keep him off; but he struck among them with blows that would have killed the man if they had hit him. He was one of the Ras- con gang, a native of the town, and known from boy- hood as a bad fellow. All called him by name, and, more by entreaties than force, made him desist. As he walked off with several of his companions, he said that the man was a spy of\Morazan, and the next time he met him he would kill him. The poor fellow was ‘senseless ; and as the women raised up his head, we saw with horror hairs white as snow, and the face of a man of seventy. He was all in rags, and they told us that he was a beggar and crazy; that he had given no provocation whatever ; but the young scoundrel, in pass- ing, happened to fix his eyes upon him, and calling him a spy of Morazan, knocked him down with his club. Very soon the crowd dispersed, and the women re- mained to take care of the old man. These were times which required the natural charity of woman to be aided by supernatural strength. Every woman dreaded that her husband, son, or brother should cross the street at night, for fear of quarrels and worse weap- ons than clubs; and we saw five women, one with a candle, without a single man or boy to help them, sup- port the old man across the street, and set him up with his back against the side of the house. Afterward a woman came to the door and called to the woman in our house, that if the young man passed again he would kill him; and they went out again with a can-
EFFECTS OF CIVIL WAR. 63
dle, carried him into the courtyard of a house, and locked the door. The reader will perhaps cry shame upon us, but we went out once and were urged to re- tire, and two men were standing at the window all the time. It was natural to wish to break the head of the young man, but it was natural also to avoid bring- ing upon ourselves a gang which, though broken, was strong enough to laugh at the authorities of the town, and to waylay us in the wild road we had to pass. There was one ominous circumstance in the affair: that in a town in the State of San Salvador, a man dared threaten publicly to kill another because he was a par- tisan of Morazan, showed a disaffection in that state which surprised me more than anything I had yet en- countered. Our men were afraid to take the mules to water, and it was indispensable for them to drink. We were cautioned against going with them; and at length, upon our standing in the doorway ready to go to their assistance, they set off with loaded pistols. When I passed through Izalco before it was a tranquil place.
Karly in the morning we started, arrived at Zonzonate before breakfast, and rode to the house of my friend Mr. De Nouvelle. It was exactly two months since I left it, and, with the exception of my voyage on the Pacific and sickness at Costa Rica, I had not had a day of repose.
I was now within four days of Guatimala, but the difficulty of going on was greater than ever. The cap- tain could procure no mules. No intelligence had been received of Morazan’s movements; intercourse was en- tirely broken off, business at a stand, and the people anxiously waiting for news from Guatimala. Nobody -would set out on that road. I was very much distress-
64 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL
ed. My engagement with Mr. Catherwood was for a specific time; the rainy season was coming on, and by the loss of a month I should be prevented visiting Pa- lenque. I considered it actually safer to pass through while all was in this state of suspense, than after the floodgates of war were opened. Rascon’s band had prevented my passing the road before, and other Ras- cons might spring up. The captain had not the same inducement to push ahead thatI had. I had no idea of incurring any unnecessary risk, and on the road would have had no hesitation at any time in putting spurs to my horse; but, on deliberate consideration, my mind was so fully made up that I determined to procure a guide at any price, and set out alone.
In the midst of my perplexity, a tall, thin, gaunt-look- ing Spaniard, whose name was Don Saturnino Tinocha, came to seeme. He was a merchant from Costa Rica, so far on his way to Guatimala, and, by the advice of his friends rather than his own judgment, had been al- ready waiting a week at Zonzonate. He was exactly in the humour to suit me, very anxious to reach Guati- mala; and his views and opinions were just the same as mine. The captain was indifferent, and, at all events, could not go unless he could procure mules. I told Don Saturnino that I would go at all events, and he under- took to provide for the captain. In the evening he re- turned, with intelligence that he had scoured the town and could not procure a single mule, but he offered to leave two of his own cargoes and take the captain’s, or to sell him two of his mules. I offered to lend him my horse or macho, and the matter was arranged.
In the midst of the war-rumours, the next day, which was Sunday, was one of the most quiet I passed in Cen- tral America. Jt was at the hacienda of Dr. Drivin,
NEWS FROM GUATIMALA. 65
about a league from Zonzonate. ‘This was one of the finest haciendas in the country. The doctor had import- ed a large steam engine, which was not yet set up, and was preparing to manufacture sugar upon a larger scale than any other planter in the country. He was from the island of St. Kitts, and, before sitting down in this out-of-the-way place, had travelled extensively in Hu- rope and all the West India Islands, and knew Amer- ica from Halifax to Cape Horn; but surprised me by saying that he looked forward to a cottage in Morristown, New-Jersey, as the consummation of his wishes. I learned from him that Jemmy, after his disappearance from,Izalco, had straggled to his hacienda in wretched condition and sick of campaigning, and was then at the port on board the Cosmopolita, bound for Peru.
On our return to Zonzonate we were again in the midst of tumult. ‘Two of Captain D’Yriarte’s passen- gers for Guayaquil, whom he had given up, arrived that evening direct from Guatimala, and reported that Car- rera, with two, thousand men, had left the city at the same time with them to march upon San Salvador. Car- rera knew nothing of Morazan’s approach; his troops were a disorderly and tumultuous mass; and three leagues from the city, when they halted, the horses were already tired. Here our informants slipped away, and three hours afterward met Morazan’s army, in good order, marching single file, with Morazan himself at their head, he and all his cavalry dismounted and leading their horses, which were fresh and ready for immediate action. Morazan stopped them, and made them show their passports and letters, and they told him of the sally of Carrera’s army, and its condition; and we all formed the conclusion that Morazan had attacked them the same day, defeated them, and was then in
Vou. II.—I
66 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
possession of Guatimala. Upon the whole, we consid- ered the news favourable to us, as his first business would be to make the roads secure.
At three o’clock the next morning we were again in the saddle. A stream of fire was rolling down the Vol- cano of Izalco, bright, but paler by the moonlight. The road was good for two leagues, when we reached the Indian village of Aguisaleo. Our mules were overload- ed, and one of Don Saturnino’s gave out entirely. We tried to procure others or Indian carriers, but no one would move from home. Don Saturnino loaded his saddle-mule, and walked; and if it had not been for his indefatigable perseverance, we should have ,been compelled to stop. ;
At one o’clock we reached Apeneca, and rode up to one of the best houses, where an old man and his wife undertook. to give us breakfast. Our mules presented a piteous spectacle. Mine, which had carried my light luggage like a feather all the way from La Union, had gone on with admirable steadiness up hill and down dale, but when we stopped she trembled in every limb, and before the cargo was removed I expected to see her fall. Nicolas and the muleteer said she would certainly die, and the faithful brute seemed to look at me re- proachfully for having suffered so heavy a load to be put upon her back. I tried to buy or hire another, but all were removed one or two days’ journey out of the line of march of the soldiers.
It was agreed that I should go on to Aguachapa and endeavour to have other mules ready early the next morning; but in the mean time the captain conceived some suspicions of the old man and woman, and re- solved not to remain that night in the village. Fortu- nately, my mule revived and began to eat. Don Sat-
A REGION OF FIRE. 67
urnino repeated his ’sta bueno, with which he had cheered us through all the perplexities of the day, and we determined to set out again. Neither of us had any luggage he was willing to leave, for in all probability ’ he would never see it again. We loaded our saddle- beasts and walked. Immediately on leaving the village we commenced ascending the mountain of Aguachapa, the longest and worst in the whole road, in the wet sea- son requiring two days to cross it. A steep pitch at the beginning made me tremble for the result. The as- cent was about three miles, and on the very crest, im- bowered among the trees, was a blacksmith’s shop, commanding a view of the whole country back to the village, and on the other side, of the slope of the mount- ain to the plain of Aguachapa. The clink of the ham- mer and the sight of a smith’s grimed face seemed a profanation of the beauties of the scene. Here our dif- ficulties were over; the rest of our road was down hill. ‘The road lay along the ridge of the mountain. On our right we looked down the perpendicular side to a plain two. thousand feet below us; and in front, on another part of the same plain, were the lake and town of Aguachapa. Instead of going direct to the town, we turned round the foot of the mountain, and came into a field smoking with hot springs. The ground was incrusted with sulphur, and dried and baked by sub- terranean fires. In some places were large orifices, from which steam rushed out violently and with noise, and in others large pools or lakes, one of them a hundred and fifty feet in circumference, of dark brown water, boiling with monstrous bubbles three or four feet high, which Homer might have made the head-waters of Acheron. All around, for a great extent, the earth was in a state of combustion, burning our boots and
68 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
frightening the horses, and we were obliged to be care- ful to keep the horses from falling through. At some distance was a stream of sulphur-water, which we fol- lowed up to a broad basin, made a dam with stones and bushes, and had a most refreshing warm bath.
It was nearly dark when we entered the town, the frontier of the state and the outpost of danger. All were on the tiptoe of expectation for news from Guati- mala. Riding through the plaza, we saw a new corps of about two hundred “ patriot soldiers,’’ uniformed and equipped, at evening drill, which was a guarantee against the turbulence we had seen in Izalco. Colonel Angou- la, the commandant, was the same who had broken up the band of Rascon. Every one we met was astonish- ed at our purpose of going on to Guatimala, and it was vexatious and discouraging to have ominous cautions perpetually dinned into our ears. We rode to the house of the widow Padilla, a friend of Don Saturnino, whom we found in great affliction. Her eldest son, on a visit to Guatimala on business, with a regular passport, had been thrown into prison by Carrera, and had then been a month in confinement; and she had just learned, what had been concealed from her, that the other son, a young man just twenty-one, had joined Morazan’s expedition. Our purpose of going to Guatimala opened the fountain of her sorrows. She mourned for her sons, but the case of the younger seemed to give her most distress. She mourned that he had become a soldier; she had seen so much of the horrors of war; and, as if speaking of a truant boy, begged us to urge General Morazan to send him home. She was still in black for their father, who was a personal friend of General Morazan, and had, besides, three daughters, all young women, the eldest not more than twenty-three, married to Colonel Molina,
TIDINGS OF DISASTER. 69
the second in command; all were celebrated in that country for their beauty; and though the circum- stances of the night prevented my seeing much of them, I looked upon this as one of the most lady- like and interesting family groups I had seen in the country. , :
Our first inquiry was for mules. Colonel Molina, the son-in-law, after endeavouring to dissuade us from con- tinuing, sent out to make inquiries, and the result was that there were none to hire, but there was a man who had two to sell, and who promised to bring them early in the morning. We had vexations enough without add- ing any between ourselves ; but, unfortunately, the cap- tain and Don Saturnino had an angry quarrel, growing out of the breaking down of the mules. I was appeal- ed to by both, and in trying to keep the peace came near having both upon me. ‘The dispute was so violent that none of the female part of the family appeared in the sala, and while it was pending Colonel Molina was called off by a message from the commandant. In half an hour he returned, and told us that two soldiers had just entered the town, who reported that Morazan had been defeated in his attack on Guatimala, and his whole army routed and eut to pieces; that he himself, with fifteen dragoons, was escaping by the way of the coast, and the whole of Carrera’s army was in full pursuit. The soldiers were at first supposed to be deserters, but they were recognised by some of the town’s people; and after a careful examination and calculation of the lapse of time since the last intelligence, the news was believed to be true. The consternation it created in our little household cannot be. described. Morazan’s defeat was the death-knell of sons and brothers. It
70 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
was not a moment for strangers to offer idle consola- tion, and we withdrew.
Our own plans were unsettled; the very dangers I feared had happened; the soldiers, who had been kept together in masses, were disbanded to sweep every road. in the country with the ferocity of partisan war. But for the night we could do nothing. Our men were al- ready asleep, and, not without apprehensions, the captain and J retired to a room opening upon the courtyard. Don Saturnino wrapped himself in his poncha and lay down under the corridor.
None of us undressed, but the fatigue of the day had been so great that I soon fell into a profound sleep. At one o’clock we were roused by Colonel Molina shouting in the doorway ‘“‘ La gente vienne!”’ “ 'The people are coming!” His sword glittered, his spurs rattled, and by the moonlight I saw men saddling horses in the courtyard. We sprang up in a moment, and he told us to save ourselves; ‘‘la gente’? were coming, and within two hours’ march of the town. My first question was, What had become of the soldiers? They were already marching out ; everybody was preparing to fly; he intended to escort the ladies to a hiding- place in the mountains, and then to overtake the sol- diers. I must confess that my first thought was “ devil take the hindmost,” and J ordered Nicolas, who was fairly blubbering with fright, to saddle for a start. The captain, however, objected, insisting that to fly would be to identify ourselves with the fugitives; and if we were overtaken with them we should certainly be mas- sacred. Don Saturnino proposed to set out on our journey, and go straight on to a hacienda two leagues beyond ; if we met them on the road we would appear as travellers; in their hurry they would let us pass;
‘owl aa
CONFUSION AND TERROR. 71
and, at all events, we would avoid the dangers of a general sacking and plunder of the town. I approved of this suggestion ; the fact is, I was for anything that put us on horseback; but the captain again opposed it violently. Unluckily, he had four large, heavy trunks containing jewelry and other valuables, and no mules to carry them. I made a hurried but feeling comment upon the comparative value of life and property; but the captain said that all he was worth in the world was in those trunks; he would not leave them; he would not risk them on the road; he would defend them as long as he had life; and, taking them up one by one from the corridor, he piled them inside of our little sleeping-room, shut the door, and swore that nobody should get into them without passing over his dead body. Now I, for my own part, would have taken a guiet stripping, and by no means approved this desper- ate purpose of the captain’s. The fact is, I was very differently situated from him. My property was chiefly in horseflesh and muleflesh, at the moment the most desi- rable thing in which money could be invested; and with two hours’ start, I would have defied all the Cachure- cos in Guatimala to catch me. But the captain’s deter- mination put an end to all thoughts of testing the sound- ness of my investment; and perhaps, at all events, it was best to remain.
I entered the house, where the old lady and her daughters were packing up their valuables, and passed through to the street. The church bells were tolling with a frightful sound, and a horseman, with a red ban- neret on the point of his lance, was riding through the streets warning the inhabitants to fly. Horses were _ standing before the doors saddled and bridled, and all along men were issuing from the doors with loads on
72 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
their backs, and women with packages and bundles in their hands, and hurrying children before them. The moon was beaming with unrivalled splendour; the women did not scream, the children did not cry tere ror was in every face and movement, but too deep for
utterance. I walked down to the church; the cura
was at the altar, receiving hurried confessions and ad- ministering the sacrament; and as the wretched inhab- itants left the altar they fled from the town. I saw a
poor mother searching for a missing child; but her
friends, in hoarse whispers, said, “‘ La gente vienne !”’ and hurried her away. A long line of fugitives, with loaded mules interspersed, was moving from the door of the church, and disappearing beneath the brow of the hill. It was the first time I ever saw terror operating
upon masses, and I hope never to see it again. I went
back to the house. The family of Padilla had not left, and the poor widow was still packing up. We urged Colonel Molina to hasten; as commandant, he would be the first victim. He knew his danger, but in a tone of voice that told the horrors of this partisan war, said he could not leave behind him the young women. In a few moments all was ready; the old lady gave us the key of the house, we exchanged the Spanish farewell with a mutual recommendation to God, and sadly and silently they left the town. Colonel Molina remained a moment behind. Again he urged us to fly, saying that the enemy were robbers, murderers, and assassins, who would pay no respect to person or character, and disappointment at finding the town deserted would
make them outrageous with us. He drove his spurs
- into his horse, and we never saw him again. On the steps of the church were sick and infirm old men and children, and the cura’s house was thronged with the
A TOWN DESERTED. 73
same helpless beings. Except these, we were left in sole possession of the town.
It was not yet an hour since we had been roused
from sleep. We had not been able to procure any def-
sae ae _ inite information as to the character of the approaching *" / Ae a
i + ih .c Ad + yt 4 i ie ae 4
force. The alarm was “la gente vienne ;’
. ae iy fee ee He ¢ ia
> no one knew
or thought of more, no one paid any attention to us, and we did not know whether the whole army of Car- rera was approaching, or merely a roving detachment. If the former, my hope was that Carrera was with them, and that he had not forgotten my diplomatic coat; I felt rejoiced that the soldiers had marched out, and that the inhabitants had fled; there could be no re- sistance, no bloodshed, nothing to excite a lawless sol- diery. Again we walked down to the church; old women and little boys gathered around us, and wonder- ed that we did not fly. We went to the door of the cura’s house; the room was small, and full of old wom- en. We tried to cheer them, but old age had lost its garrulity ; they waited their fate in silence. We re- turned to the house, smoked, and waited in anxious expectation. The enemy did. not come, the bell ceas- ed its frightful tolling, and after a while we began to wish they would come, and let us have the thing over. We went out, and looked, and listened; but there was neither sound nor motion. We became positively tired of waiting; there were still two hours to daylight; we lay down, and, strange to say, again fell asleep. |
Vou. II.—K 7
74 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
CHAPTER V.
Approach of Carrera’s Forces.—Terror of the Inhabitants.—Their Flight.—Sur- render of the Town.—Ferocity of the Soldiery.—A Bulletin.—Diplomacy.—A Passport.—A Breakfast.—An Alarm.—The Widow Padilla.—An Attack.—De- feat of Carrera’s Forces.—The Town taken by General Morazan—His Entry. —The Widow’s Son.—Visit to General Morazan.—His Appearance, Character, &c.—Plans deranged.
Ir was broad daylight when we woke, without any machete cuts, and still in undisturbed possession of the town. My first thought was for the mules; they had eaten up their sacate, and had but a poor chance for more, but I sent them immediately to the river for wa- ter. They had hardly gone when a little boy ran in from the church, and told us that la gente were in sight. We hurried back with him, and the miserable beings on the steps, with new terrors, supposing that we were friends of the invaders, begged us to save them. Followed by three or four trembling boys, we ascended to the steeple, and saw the Cachurecos at a distance, descending the brow of a hill in single file, their muskets glittering in the sunbeams. We saw that it was not the whole of Carrera’s army, but apparently only a pioneer company ; but they were too many for us, and the smallness of their numbers gave them the appearance of a lawless predatory band. They had
still to cross a long plain and ascend the hill on which
the town was built. The bellrope was in reach of my hand; I gave it one strong pull, and telling the boys to sound loud the alarm, hurried down. As we passed out of the church, we heard loud cries from the old women in the house of the cura; and the old men and children on the steps asked us whether they would be murdered.
ite en Y a
r&
SURRENDER. 75
The mules had not returned, and, afraid of their being intercepted in the street, I ran down a steep hill toward the river, and meeting them, hurried back to the house. While doing so I saw at the extreme end of the street a single soldier moving cautiously; and watching carefully every house, as if suspecting treach-
ery, he advanced with a letter directed to Colonel An- -goula. ‘The captain told him that he must seek An- - goula among the mountains. We inquired the name
of his commanding officer, how many men he had, said that there was no one to oppose him, and forthwith sur- rendered the town. ‘The man could hardly believe that it was deserted. General Figoroa did not know it; he had halted at a short distance, afraid to make the at- tack at night, and was then expecting immediate battle. He himself could not have been much better pleased at avoiding it than we were. ‘The envoy returned, and in a short time we saw at the extreme end of the street the neck of a horse protruding from the cross-street on the left. A party of cavalry armed with lances follow- ed, formed at the head of the street, looking about them carefully as if still suspecting an ambush. In a few moments General Figoroa, mounted on a fierce little horse, without uniform, but with dark wool saddle-cloth, pistols, and basket-hilted sword, making a warlike ap- pearance, came up, leading the van. We took off our hats as he approached our door, and he returned the sa- lute. About a hundred lancers followed him, two abreast, with red flags on the ends of their lances, and pistols in their holsters. In passing, one ferocious-look- ing fellow looked fiercely at us, and grasping his lance, eried ‘‘ Viva Carrera.’? We did not answer it imme- diately, and he repeated it in a tone that brought forth the response louder and more satisfactory, from the \
76 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
spite with which it was given; the next man repeated it, and the next; and before we were aware of our po- sition, every lancer that passed, in a tone of voice reg- ulated by the gentleness or the ferocity of his disposi- tion, and sometimes with a most threatening scowl, put to us as a touchstone ‘‘ Viva Carrera.”’
The infantry were worse than the lancers in appear- ance, being mostly Indians, ragged, half naked, with old straw hats and barefooted, armed with muskets and machetes, and many with oldfashioned Spanish blun- derbusses. They vied with each other in sharpness and ferocity, and sometimes actually levelling their pieces, cried at us ‘‘ Viva Carrera.’?’ We were taken com- pletely unawares; there was no escape, and I believe they would have shot us down on the spot if we had re- fused to echo the cry. I compromised with my dignity by answering no louder than the urgency of the case re- quired, but I never passed through a more trying ordeal. Don Saturnino had had the prudence to keep out of sight; but the captain, who had intended to campaign against these fellows, never flinched, and when the last man passed added an extra ‘‘ Viva Carrera.’’ I again felt rejoiced that the soldiers had left the town and that there had been no fight. It would have been a fearful thing to fall imto the hands of such men, with their pas- sions roused by resistance and bloodshed. Reaching the plaza, they gave a general shout of “‘ Viva Carrera,”’ and stacked their arms. In a few minutes a party of them came down to our house and asked for breakfast ; and when we could not give them that, they begged a medio or sixpence. By degrees others came in, until the room was full. They were really no great gainers by taking the town. ‘They had had no breakfast, and the town was completely stripped of eatables. We in-
A BULLETIN. 17
quired the news from Guatimala, and bought from them several copies of the ‘‘ Parte Official’”’ of the Supreme Government, headed ‘“‘ Viva la Patria! Viva el Gener- al Carrera! The enemy has been completely extermi- nated in his attack upon this city, which he intended to devastate. The tyrant Morazan flies terrified, leaving the plaza and streets strewed with corpses sacrificed to his criminal ambition. . The principal officers associated in his staff have perished, &c. ternal glory to the In- vincible Chief GENERAL Carrera, and the valiant troops under his command.’’ They told us that Carrera, with three thousand men, was in full pursuit. In a little while the demand for sixpences became so frequent, that, afraid of being supposed to have mucha plata, we walked to the plaza to present ourselves to General Figoroa, and settle the terms of our surrender, or, at all events, to ‘“‘ define our position.”” We found him at the cabildo, quite at home, with a parcel of officers, white men, Mestitzoes, and mulattoes, smoking, and in- terrogating some old men from the church as to the movements of Colonel Angoula and the soldiers, the time of their setting out, and the direction they took. He was a young man—all the men in that country were young—about thirty-two or three, dressed in a snuff-col- oured cloth roundabout jacket, and pantaloons of the same colour; and off his warhorse, and away from his assassin-like band, had very much the air of an honest man.
It was one of the worst evils of this civil war that no respect was paid to the passports of opposite parties. The captain had only his San Salvador passport, which was here worse than worthless. Don Saturnino had a variety from partisan commandants, and upon this oc- casion made use of one from a colonel under Ferrera.
78 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
The captain introduced me by the title of Sefior Minis- tro del Norte America, and I made myself acceptable by saying that I had been to San Salvador in search of a government, and had not been able to find any. The fact is, although I was not able to get into regular bu- siness, | was practising diplomacy on my own account all the time ; and in order to define at once and clearly our relative positions, I undertook to do the honours of the town, and invited General Figoroa and all his offi- cers to breakfast. This was a bold stroke, but Talley- rand could not have touched a nicer chord. They had not eaten anything since noon the day before, and I be- lieve they would have evacuated their empty conquest for a good breakfast all round. ‘They accepted my invitation with a promptness that put an end to my small stock of provisions for the road. General Figo- roa confirmed the intelligence of Morazan’s defeat and flight, and Carrera’s pursuit, and the ‘invincible chief” | would perhaps have been somewhat surprised at the pleasure I promised myself in meeting him.
With a very few moments’ interchange of opinion, we made up our minds to get out of this frontier town as soon as possible, and again to go forward. I had almost abandoned ulterior projects, and looked only to personal safety. ‘Tio go back, we reasoned, would car- ry us into the very focus of war and danger. The San Salvador people were furious against strangers, and the Honduras troops were invading them on one side, and Carrera’s hordes on the other. ‘To remain where we were was certain exposure to attacks from both parties. By going on we would meet Carrera’s troops, and if we passed them we left war behind us. We had but one risk, and that would be tested in aday. Under this belief, I told the general that we designed proceeding to Gua-
A BREAKFAST. 79
timala, and that it would add to our.security to have his passport. It was the general’s first campaign. He was then only a few days in service, having set off in a hur- ry to get possession of this town, and cut off Morazan’s retreat. He was flattered by the request, and said that his passport would be indispensable. His aid and sec- retary had been clerk in an apothecary’s shop in Guati- mala, and therefore understood the respect due to a ministro, and said that he would make it out himself. I was all eagerness to get possession of this passport. The captain, in courtesy, said we were in no hurry. I dismissed courtesy, and said that we were in a hurry ; that we must set out immediately after breakfast. I was afraid of postponements, delays, and accidents, and in spite of impediments and inconveniences, I per- sisted till I got the secretary down at the table, who, without any trouble, and by a mere flourish of the pen, made me ‘ ministro plenipotentiario.’”’ ‘The captain’s name was inserted in the passport, General Figoroa signed it, and I put it in my pocket, after which I breathed more freely.
We returned to the house, and in a few minutes the general, his secretary, and two mulatto officers came over to breakfast. It was very considerate in them that they did not bring more. Our guests cared more for quantity than quality, and this was the particular in which we were most deficient. We had plenty of choc- olate, a stock of bread for the road, and some eggs that were found in the house. We put on the table all that we had, and gave the general the seat of honour at the head. One of the officers preferred sitting away on a bench, and eating his eggs with his fingers. It is un- pleasant for a host to be obliged to mark the quantity that his guests eat, but I must say I was agreeably dis-
80 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
appointed. If I had been breakfasting with them in- stead of vice versa, I could have astonished them as much as their voracious ancestors did the Indians. The breakfast was a neat fit; there was none over, and I believe nothing short.
There was but one unpleasant circumstance attend- ant upon it, viz., General Figoroa requested us to wait an hour, until he could prepare despatches to Carrera, advising him of his occupation of Aguachapa. I was extremely anxious to get away while the game was good. Of General Figoroa and his secretary we thought favourably ; but we saw that he had no control over his men, and as long as we were in the town we should be subject to their visits, inquiries, and importunities, and some difficulties might arise. At the same time, de- spatches to Carrera would be a great security on the road. Don Saturnino undertook to set off with the luggage, and we, glad of the opportunity of travelling without any encumbrance, charged him to push on as fast as he could, not to stop for us, and we would over- take him.
In about an hour we walked over to the plaza for the despatches, but unluckily found ourselves in a new scene of confusion. Figoroa was already in the saddle, the lancers were mounting in haste, and all running to arms. A scout had brought in word that Colonel An- goula, with the soldiers of the town, was hovering on the skirt of the mountain, and our friends were hurrying to attack them. Ina moment the lancers were off on a gallop, and the ragged infantry snatched up their guns and ran after them, keeping up with the horses. The letter to Carrera was partly written, and the aiddecamp asked us to wait, telling us that the affair would soon be over. He was left in command of about ‘seventy or
AN ALARM. 81
eighty men, and we sat down with him under the cor- ridor of the quartel. He was several years younger than Figoroa, more intelligent, and seemed very amia- ble except on political matters, and there he was savage against the Morazan party. He was gentlemanly in his manners, but his coat was out at the elbows, and his _ pantaloons were torn. He said he had a new frock- coat, for which he had paid sixteen dollars, but which did not, fit him, and he wished to sell it. I afterward spoke of him to one of Morazan’s officers, whom I would believe implicitly except in regard to political opponents, who told me that this same secretary stole a pair of pantaloons from him, and he had no doubt the coat was stolen from somebody else.
There was no order or discipline among the men; the soldiers lay about the quartel, joined in the conver- sation, or strolled through the town, as they pleased. The inhabitants had fortunately carried away every- thing portable; two or three times a foraging party re- turned with a horse or mule, and once they were all roused by an alarm that Angoula was returning upon the town in another direction. Immediately all snatch- ed up their arms, and at least one half, without a mo- ment’s warning, took to their heels. We had a fair chance of having the town again upon our hands, but the alarm proved groundless. We could not, however, but feel uncomfortable at the facility with which our friends abandoned us, and the risk we ran of being identified with them. ‘There were three brothers, the only lancers who did not go out with Figoroa, white men, young and athletic, the best dressed and best armed in the company ; swaggering in their manner, and disposed to cultivate an acquaintance with us; they
Vou. Il.—L
82 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
told us that they purposed going to Guatimala; but I. shrank from them instinctively, eluded their questions as to when we intended to set out, and I afterward heard that they were natives of the town, and had been compelled to leave it on account of their notorious characters as assassins. One of them, as we thought, in a mere spirit of bravado, provoked a quarrel with the aiddecamp, strutted before the quartel, and in the hearing of all said that they were under no man’s or- ders ; they only joined General Figoroa to please them- selves, and would do as they thought proper. In the mean time, a few of the townsmen who had nothing to lose, among them an alguazil, finding there was no massacring, had returned or emerged from their hi- ding-places, and we procured a guide to be ready the moment General Figoroa should return, went back to the house, and to our surprise found the widow Padilla there. She had been secreted somewhere in the neigh- bourhood, and had heard, by means of an old woman- servant, of the general’s breakfasting with us, and our intimacy with him. . We inquired for her daughters’ safety, but not where they were, for we had already found. that we could answer inquiries better when we knew nothing.
We waited till four o’clock, and hearing nothing of General Figoroa, made up our minds that we should not get off till evening. We therefore strolled up to the extreme end of the street, where Figoroa had en- tered, and where stood the ruins of an old church. We sat on the foundation walls and looked through the long and desolate street to the plaza, where were a few stacks of muskets and some soldiers. All around were mountains, and among them rose the beautiful and ver- dant Volcano of Chingo. While sitting there two
AN ATTACK. 83
women ran past, and telling us that the soldiers were returning in that direction, hid themselves among the ruins. We turned down a road and were intercepted on a little eminence, where we were obliged to stop and look down upon them as they passed. We saw that they were irritated by an unsuccessful day’s work, and that they had found agua ardiente, for many of them were drunk. A drummer on horseback, and so tipsy that he could hardly sit, stopped the line to glorify Gen- eral Carrera. Very soon they commenced the old touchstone, ‘‘ Viva Carrera !’’ and one fellow, with the strap of his knapsack across his naked shoulders, again stopped the whole line, and turning round with a fero- cious expression, said, ‘‘ You are counting us, are you ?”’
We disappeared, and by another street got back to the house. We waited a moment, and, determined to get out of the town and sleep at the first hacienda on the road, left the house to go again to General Fi- goroa for his despatches; but before reaching it we saw new confusion in the plaza, a general remounting and rushing to arms. As soon as General Figoroa saw us, he spurred his horse down the street to meet us, and told us, in great haste, that General Morazan was approaching and almost upon the town. He had that moment received the news, and was going out to attack him. He had no time to sign the despatches, and while he was speaking the lancers galloped past. He shook hands, bade us good-by, hasta luego (until presently), asked us to call upon Carrera in case we did not see him again, and dashing down the line, put himself at the head of the lancers. The foot-goldiers followed in single file on a run, carrying their arms as was most convenient. In the hurry and excitement we forgot ourselves till we heard some flattering epithets,
84 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
and saw two fellows shaking their muskets at us with the expression of fiends; but, hurried on by those behind, they cried out ferociously, ‘‘ Estos picaros otro vez,” “ Those rascals again.’’ The last of the line had hardly disappeared before we heard a volley of musketry, and in a moment fifty or sixty men left in the plaza snatch- ed up their arms and ran down a street opening from the plaza. Very soon a horse without a rider came clattering down the street at full speed; three others followed, and in five minutes we saw thirty or forty _ horsemen, with our friend Figoroa at their head, dash across the street, all running for their lives; but in a few moments they rallied and returned. We walked toward the church, to ascend the steeple, when a sharp volley of musketry rolled up the street on that side, and before we got back into the house there was firing along the whole length of the street. We knew that a chance shot might kill a non-combatant, and se- cured the doors and windows; but finally, as the firing was sharp, and the balls went beyond us and struck the houses on the opposite side, with an old servant- woman (what had become of the widow I do not know), we retired into a small room on the courtyard, with de- lightful walls, and a door three inches thick and bullet- proof, shutting which, and in utter darkness, we listened valiantly. Here we considered ourselves out of harm’s way, but we had serious apprehensions for the result. The spirit on both sides was to kill; giving quarter was not thought of. Morazan’s party was probably small, but they would not be taken without a desperate fight ; and from the sharpness of the firing and the time oc- cupied, there was probably a sanguinary affair. Our quondam friends, roused by bloodshed, wounds, and loss of companions, without any one to control them,
SSS
APPEARANCE OF MORAZAN. 85
would be very likely to connect ‘those rascals’? with the arrival of Morazan. I will not say that we wished they might all be killed, but we did wish that their bad blood might be let out, and that was almost the same thing. In fact, I did most earnestly hope never to see their faces again. I preferred being taken by any ro- ving band in the country rather than by them, and nev- er felt more relieved than when we heard the sound of a bugle. It was the Morazan blast of victory; and, though sounding fiercely the well-known notes of ‘ de- gollar, degollar,”’ ‘ cutthroat, cutthroat,’’ it was music to our ears. Very soon we heard the tramp of cavalry, and leaving our hiding-place, returned to the sala, and heard a cry of ‘ Viva la Federacion!”’ This was a cheering sound. It was now dark. We opened the door an inch or two, but a lancer riding by struck it open with his lance, and asked for water. We gave him a large calabash, which another took from his hands. We threw open the door, and kept two large calabashes on the sill; and the soldiers, as they passed, took a hasty draught. Asking a question of each, we learned that it was General Morazan himself, with the survivers of his expedition against Guatimala. Our house was well known; many of the officers inquired for the family, and an aiddecamp gave notice to the ser- vant-woman that Morazan himself intended stopping there. The soldiers marched into the plaza, stacked their arms, and shouted ‘‘ Viva Morazan.’’ In the morning the shout was “ Viva Carrera!’’ None cried ‘¢ Viva la Patria !”
There was no end to our troubles. In the morning we surrendered to one party, and in the evening were captured out of their hands by another; probably be- fore daylight Carrera would be upon us. There was
8
86 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
only one‘comfort: the fellows who had broken our rest the night before, and scared the inhabitants: from their homes, were now looking out for lodgings in the mount- ains themselves. I felt sorry for Figoroa and his aid, and, on abstract principles, for the killed. As for the rest, I cared but little what became of them.
In a few moments a party of officers came down to our house. For six days they had been in constant flight through an enemy’s country, changing their direc- tion to avoid pursuit, and only stopping to rest their horses. Entering under the excitement of a successful skirmish, they struck me as the finest set of men I had seen in the country. Figoroa had come upon them so suddenly, that General Morazan, who rode at the head of his men, had two bullets pass by his head before he could draw his pistol, and he had a narrower escape than in the whole of his bloody battle in Guatimala. Colonel Cabanes, a small, quiet, gentlemanly man, the commander of the troops massacred in Honduras, struck the first blow, broke his sword over a lancer, and, . wresting the lance out of its owner’s hands, ran it through his body, but was wounded himself in the hand. A tall, gay, rattling young man, who was wiping warm blood from off his sword, and drying it on his pocket- handkerchief, mourned that he had failed in cutting off their retreat; and a quiet middle-aged man, wiping his forehead, drawled out, that if their horses had not been so tired they would have killed every man. Even they talked only of killing; taking prisoners was nev- er thought of. The verb matar, to kill, with its in- flexions, was so continually ringing in my ears that it made me nervous. In a few minutes the widow Padil- la, who, I am inclined to believe, was secreted some- where in the neighbourhood, knowing of General Mora-
THE WIDOW’S SON. 87
Zi 1's approach, rushed in, crying wildly for her sons. All _ answered that the eldest was with them; all knew her, and one after another put his right arm respect- fully over her shoulder and embraced her; but the young man who was wiping his sword drove it into its scabbard, and, catching her up in his arms, lifted her off the floor and whirled her about the room. The poor old lady, half laughing and half crying, told him he was as bad as ever, and continued asking for her sons. At this moment a man about forty, whom I had noticed before as the only one without arms, with a long beard, pale and haggard, entered from the courtyard. The old lady screamed, rushed toward him, and fell on his neck, and for some moments rested her head upon his shoulder. This was the one who had been imprisoned by Carrera. General Morazan had forced his way into the plaza, broken open the prisons, and liberated the inmates; and when he was driven out this son made his escape. But where was her younger and dearer
son? The young man answered that he had escaped
and was safe. The old lady looked at him with dis- trust, and, calling him by his Christian name, told him he was deceiving her; but he persisted and swore that he had escaped ; he himself had given him a fresh horse ; he was seen outside the barrier, was probably conceal- ed somewhere, and would soon make his appearance, The other officers had no positive knowledge. One had seen him at such a time, and another at such a time during the battle; and all agreed that the young man ought to know best, for their posts were near each other ;
and he, young, ardent, and reckless, the dearest friend
of her son, and loving her as a mother, told me after- ward that she should have one night’s comfort, and that she would know the truth soon enough; but the
88 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
brother, narrowly escaped from death himself, and who looked as if smiles had been forever driven from his face, told me he had no doubt his mother’s darling was killed.
During these scenes the captain and, I were not un- noticed. The captain found among the officers several whom he had become acquainted with at the port, and he learned that others had made their last campaign. In the first excitement of meeting them, he determined to turn back and follow their broken fortunes; but, luckily for me, those trunks had gone on. He felt that he had a narrow escape. Among those who had ac- companied General Morazan were the former secre- tary of state and war, and all the principal officers, civil and military, of the shattered general government. They had heard of my arrival in the country. I had been expected at San Salvador, was known to them all by reputation, and very soon personally; particularly I became acquainted with Colonel Zerabia, a young man about twenty-eight, handsome, brave, and accom- plished in mind and manners, with an enthusiastic at- tachment for General Morazan, from whom, in refer- ring to one affair in the attack on Guatimala, with tears almost starting from his eyes, he said, Providence seem- ed to turn the bullets away. I had often heard of this gentleman in Guatimala, and his case shows the unhap- py rending of private and social ties produced by these civil wars. His father was banished by the Liberal party eight years before, and was then a general in the Carlist service in Spain. His mother and three sisters lived in Guatimala, and I had visited at their house perhaps oftener than at any other in that city. They lived near the plaza, and while Morazan had possession of it, the colonel had run home to see them; and in the
“ GENERAL MORAZAN. 89
midst of a distracted meeting, rendered more poignant
‘by the circumstance of his being joined in an attack
upon his native city, he was called away to go into ac- tion; his horse was shot under him, he was wounded, and escaped with the wreck of the army. His mother and sisters knew nothing of his fate. He said, what I was sure was but too true, that they would have dread- ful apprehensions about him, and begged me, imme- diately on my arrival at Guatimala, to visit them and inform them of his safety.
In the mean time, General Morazan, apprehensive of a surprise from Carrera during the night, sent word that he should sleep in the plaza; and escorted by Colonel Zerabia, I went to pay my respects to him. From the time of his entry I felt perfectly secure, and never had a moment of apprehension from unruly soldiers. For the first time I saw something like discipline. A sen- tinel was pacing the street leading from the plaza, to prevent the soldiers straggling into the town; but the poor fellows seemed to have no disposition for strag- gling. The town was stripped of everything; even the poor horses had no food. Some were gathered at the window of the cabildo, each in his turn holding up his hat for a portion of hard corn bread; some were sitting around fires eating this miserable fare; but most were stretched on the ground, already asleep. It was the first night they had lain down except in an enemy’s country.
General Morazan, with several officers, was standing in the corridor of the cabildo; a large fire was burning before the door, and a table stood against the wall, with a candle and chocolate-cups upon it. He was about forty-five years old, five feet ten inches high, thin, with a black mustache and week’s beard, and
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90 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
wore a military frock-coat, buttoned up to the throat, and sword. His hat was off, and the expression of his
face mild and intelligent. Though still young, for ten ~
years he had been the first man in the country, and eight president of the Republic. He had risen and had sustained himself by military skill and personal bra- very ; always led his forces himself; had been in innu- merable battles, and often wounded, but never beaten. A year before, the people of Guatimala, of both par- ties, had implored him to come to their relief, as the only man who could save them from Carrera and de- struction. At that moment he added another to the countless instances of the fickleness of popular favour. After the expiration of his term he had been elected chief of the State of San Salvador, which office he had resigned, and then acted as commander-in-chief under the Federal Government. Denounced personally, and the Federation under which he served disavowed, he had marched against Guatimala with fourteen hundred men, and forced his way into the plaza; forty of his oldest officers and his eldest son were shot down by his side; and cutting his way through masses of human flesh, with about four hundred and fifty men then in the
plaza, made his escape. 1 was presented to him by |
Colonel Zerabia. From the best information I could acquire, and from the enthusiasm with which I had heard him spoken of by his officers, and, in fact, by every one else in his own state, I had conceived al- most a feeling of admiration for General Morazan, and my interest in him was increased by his misfor- tunes. I was really at a loss how to address him; and while my mind was full of his ill-fated expedition, his first question was if his family had arrived in Costa
Rica, or if I had heard anything of them. I did not
»
ais ee =
PLANS DISARRANGED. 91
tell him, what I then thought, that his calamities would follow all who were connected with him, and probably that his wife and daughters would not be permitted an asylum in that state ; but it spoke volumes that, at such a moment, with the wreck of his followers before him, and the memory of his murdered companions fresh in his mind, in the overthrow of all his hopes and fortunes, his heart turned to his domestic relations. He express- ed his sorrow for the condition in which I saw his un- happy country; regretted that my visit was at such a most unfortunate moment; spoke of Mr. De Witt, and the relations of that country with ours, and his regret that our treaty had not been renewed, and that it could not be done now; but these things were not in my mind. Feeling that he must have more important business, I remained but a short time, and returned to the house.
The moon had risen, and I was now extremely anx-
lous to set out, but our plans were entirely deranged.
The guide whom we had engaged to conduct us to the Rio Paz was missing, and no other could be found; in fact, not a man could be induced, either by promises or threats, to leave the town that night from fear of falling in with the routed troops. Several of the officers took chocolate with us, and at the head of the table sat a priest with a sword by his side. I had breakfasted men who would have been happy to cut their throats, and they were now hiding among the mountains or riding for life. If Carrera came, my new friends would be scattered. They all withdrew: early, to sleep under arms in the plaza, and we were left with the widow and her son. A distressing scene followed, of inquiries and forebodings by the widow for her younger son,
which the elder could only get rid of by pleading ex-
92 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
cessive fatigue, and begging to be permitted to go to sleep. It was rather singular, but it had not occurred to us before to inquire about the dead and wounded in
the skirmish. There were none of the latter; all who -
fell were lanced, and the dead were left on the ground. He was in the rear of the Morazan party; the fire was scattering; but on the line by which he entered the town he counted eighteen bodies.
a oe i
VISIT FROM GENERAL MORAZAN. 93
CHAPTER VI.
Visit from General Morazan.—End of his Career.—Procuring a Guide.—Depar- ture for Guatimala.—Fright of the People.-—The Rio Paz.—Hacienda of Pal- mita.—A fortunate Escape.—Hacienda of San José.—An awkward Predica- ment.—A kind Host.—Rancho of Hoctilla—Oratorio and Leon.—Rio de los Esclavos.—The Village.—Approach to Guatimala.—Arrival at Guatimala.—A Sketch of the Wars.—Defeat of Morazan.—Scene of Massacre.
In the morning, to our surprise, we found several shops open, and people in the street, who had been concealed somewhere in the neighbourhood, and re- turned as soon as they knew of Morazan’s entry. The alcalde reappeared, and our guide was found, but he would. net go with us, and told the alcalde that he might kill him on the spot; that he would rather die there than by the hands of the Cachurecos.
While I was taking ‘chocolate, General Morazan called upon me. Our conversation was longer and more general. I did not ask him his plans or pur- poses, but neither he nor his officers exhibited des- pondency. Once reference was made to the occu- pation of Santa Anna by General Cascara, and with a spirit that reminded me of Claverhouse in ‘‘Old Mor- tality,” he said, ‘‘ we shall visit that gentleman soon.”’ He spoke without malice or bitterness of the leaders of the Central party, and of Carrera as an ignorant and lawless Indian, from whom the party that was now using him would one day be glad to be protected. He referred, with a smile, to a charge current among the Cachurecos of an effort made by him to have Car- rera assassinated, of which a great parade had been made, with details of time and place, and which was
generally believed. He had supposed the whole story
94 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
a fabrication; but accidentally, in retreating from Gua- timala, he found himself in the very house where the attempt was said to have been made; and the man of the house told him that Carrera, having offered outrage to a member of his family, he himself had stabbed him, as was supposed mortally; and in order to account for his wounds, and turn away inquiries from the cause, it was fastened upon Morazan, and so flew all through the country. One of his officers accompanied the story with details of the outrage; and I felt very sure that, if Carrera ever fell into his hands, he would shoot him on the spot.
With the opinion that he dnteitainied of Carrera and his soldiers, he of course considered it unsafe for us to go on to Guatimala. But I was exceedingly anxious to set out; and the flush of excitement over, as the cap- tain’s trunks had gone on, he was equally so. Carrera might arrive at any moment, in which case we might again change owners, or, at all events, be the witnesses of a sanguinary battle, for Morazan would defend the frontier town of his own state to the death.
I told General Morazan my wish and purpose, and the difficulty of procuring a guide. He said that an escort of soldiers would expose us to certain danger ; even a single soldier, without his musket and cartridge- box (these being the only distinguishing marks of a sol- dier), might be recognised; but he would send for the alcalde, and procure us some trusty person from the
town. I bade him farewell with an interest greater than I had felt for any man in the country. Little did we then know the calamities that were still in store for him; that very night most of his soldiers de- serted, having been kept together only by the danger to which they were exposed while in an enemy’s coun-
END OF MORAZAN’S CAREER. 95
try. With the rest he marched to Zonzonate, seized a vessel at the port, manning her with his own men, and sent her to Libertad, the port of San Salvador. He then marched to the capital, where the people, who had for years idolized him in power, turned their backs upon him in misfortune, and received him with open insults in the streets. With many of his officers, who were too deeply compromised to remain, he embarked for Chili. Suffering from confinement on board a small vessel, he stopped in Costa Rica, and asked permission for some of them to land. He did not ask it for him- self, for he knew it would be refused. Leaving some of them behind, he went on to join his family in Chili. Amid the fierceness of party spirit it was impossible for a stranger to form a true estimate of the character of a public man. ‘The great outcry against General Mora- zan was hostility to the church and forced loans. For his hostility to the church there is the justification that it is at this day a pall upon the spirit of free institutions, degrading and debasing instead of elevating the Chris- tian character ; and for forced loans constant wars may plead. His worst enemies admit that he was exemplary in his private relations, and, what they consider no small praise, that he was not sanguinary. He is now fallen and in exile, probably forever, under sentence of death if he returns ; all the truckling worshippers of a rising sun are blasting his name and memory; but I verily believe, and I know I shall bring down upon me the indignation of the whole Central party by the asser- tion, I verily believe they have driven from their shores the best man in Central America.
The population of the town was devoted to General Morazan, and an old man brought to us his son, a young man about twenty-two, as a guide; but when he learned
96 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL
that we wanted him to go with us all the way to Rio Paz, he left us, as he said, to procure a horse. We waited nearly an hour, when the old man reappeared with a.little boy about ten years old, dressed in a straw hat and shirt, and mounted on a bare-backed horse. The young man had disappeared and could not. be found ; in fact, he was afraid to go, and it was thought this little boy would run less risk. I was never much disturbed by general reports of robbers or assassins, but there was palpable danger in meeting any of the routed tropps. Desperate by defeat, and assassin-like in disposition; not very amiable to us before; and now, from having seen us lounging about the town at that inauspicious moment, likely to connect us with the movements of Morazan, I believed that if we fell in with them we should be murdered. But, on the other hand, they had not let the grass grow under their feet ; had probably been flying all night, in appre- hension of pursuit; shunning the main road, had-per- haps crossed the Rio Paz, and, once in Guatimala, had dispersed to their own villages ; besides which, the rout had been so total that they were probably escaping three or four together, and would be as likely to run from us as we from them. At all events, it was better to go than wait till Carrera came upon the town.
With these calculations and really uncomfortable feelings, we bade farewell to some of the officers who were waiting to see us off, and at nine o’clock set out. Descending from the table-land on which the town is built, we entered an open plain, over which we could see to a great distance, and which would furnish, if ne- cessary, a good field for the evolutions of our cavalry. We passed the Lake of Aguachapa, the beauty of which, under other circumstances, would have attracted our
DEPARTURE FOR GUATIMALA. 97
admiration; and as our little guide seemed at fault, we stopped at a hut to inquire the road. The people were afraid to answer any questions. Figoroa’s soldiers and Morazan’s had passed by, but they did not know it; they could not tell whether any fugitive soldiers had passed, and only knew the road to the Rio Paz. It was easy to see that they thought of nothing else; but they said they were poor people, and at work all the time, and did not know what was going on. In half an hour we met three Indians, with loads.of pottery on their backs. The poor fellows pulled off their hats, and trembled when we inquired if there were any routed soldiers on before. It occurred to us that this inquiry would expose us to the suspicion of being officers of Morazan in pursuit, and that, if we met any one, we had better ask no questions. Beyond this there were many ' roads, all of which, the boy said, led to the Rio Paz; but he had never been there before, and did not know the right one. We followed one which took us into the woods, and soon commenced descending. The road was broken, stony, and very steep ; we descended rap- idly, and soon it was manifest no horses had passed on this road for a long time before. Trees lay across it so low that we dismounted, and were obliged: to slip our high-peaked saddles to pass under them. It was evi- dently an old cattle-path, now disused even by cattle. We descended some distance farther, and I proposed to return. My only argument was that it was safer; we knew we were wrong, and might get down so low that our physical strength would not carry us back. The captain said that I-had chosen this path; if we had followed his advice, we, should have been safe, and that now it was impossible to return. We had an angry quarrel, and, fortunately, in consideration of my having Vou. Il.—N
98 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
led into the difficulty, I gave way, and very soon we were cheered by hearing below us the rushing of the river. After a most difficult descent we reached the bank; but here there was no fording-place, and no an on the opposite side.
The river itself was peanitiful: The side which we had descended was a high and almost perpendicular mountain, and on both sides trees spread their branches over the water. It was called the River of Peace, but was now the dividing-line of deadly war, the boundary between Guatimala and San Salvador. The inhabi- tants of the opposite side were in an enemy’s country, and the routed troops, both of Morazan and Figoroa, had fled to it for refuge. Riding some distance up the stream, we worked our way across, and on the opposite side found a waccal or drinking-shell, which had prob- ably been left there by some flying soldier. We drank from it as if it had been intended for our use, and left it on the bank for the benefit of the next comer.
We were now in the State of Guatimala, on the banks of a wild river, without any visible path, and our situation was rather more precarious than before, for here the routed soldiers would consider themselves safe, and probably many, after a day and night of toil and fighting, would lie down to rest. We were fortunate in regard to a path, for, riding a short distance through the woods along the bank of the river, we struck one which turned off to the left, and terminated in the camino real leading from the regular fording-place. Here we dismissed our little guide, and set out on the main road. The face of the country was entirely changed, broken and stony, and we saw no one till we reached the ha- cienda of Palmita. This too seemed desolate. We entered the yard, and did not see a single person till
A LUCKY ESCAPE, 99
we pushed open the door of the house. The proprietor was an old gentleman, opposed to Morazan, who sat in the sala with his wife’s saddle and his own, and two bundles of bed and bedding packed up on the floor, ready for a start. He seemed to feel that it was too late, and with an air of submission answered our ques- tions, and then asked us how many men we had with us. It was amusing that, while half frightened to deatk
ourselves, we carried-terror wherever we went. We relieved him by inquiring about Don Saturnino and our luggage, remounted, and rode on. In an hour we reached the hacienda del Cacao, where Don Saturnino was to sleep. Owing to the position of the ground, we came suddenly upon the front of the house, and saw under the piazza three Cachureco soldiers eating tor- tillas. They saw us at the same moment, snatched up their muskets, and ran; but suddenly one stopped and levelled at us a blunderbuss.. ‘The barrel looked as big as a church door, and seemed to cover both the captain and me. We were in awful danger of being shot by mistake, when one of them rushed back, knocked up the blunderbuss, and crying out ‘* amigos, los Ingleses !”’ gave usa chance to reach them. ‘This amiable and sensible young Cachureco vagabond was one of those who had paid us a visit to beg a breakfast and a medio. Probably there never was a sixpence put out at better interest. He had seen us intimate with Figoroa, and taught by his betters to believe that General Morazan was a cutthroat and murderer, and not conceiving that we could be safe with him, considered us sharers of the same danger, and inquired how we had escaped. As it turned out, we were extremely happy to meet with these ; another party might have received us very dif- ferently ; and they relieved us in an important point,
es,
<¢
100 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
for they told us that most of the routed soldiers had fled on the Santa Anna road. Don Saturnino had passed the night at this hacienda, and set out very early in the morning. The soldiers returned to finish their meal, and giving their thanks in payment, set out again with us. They had a good horse which they had stolen on the road, and which they said paid them very well for the expedition, and rode by turns bare-backed. Passing El Cacao their appearance created a sensation, for they brought the first intelligence of the rout of Fig- oroa. This was ominous news, for all had considered Morazan completely crushed by his defeat at Guatimala. In his retreat he had avoided the villages, and they did not know that he had escaped with so strong a force. We endeavoured to procure a guide, but not a man could be induced to leave the village, and we rode on. In a short time it began to rain; the road was very stony, and we crossed a high, bleak volcanic mountain. Late in the afternoon the captain conceived suspicions of the soldiers, and we rode on very unceremoniously, leaving them behind. About five o’clock we avoided the road that led to a village, and taking el Camino de los Partidos, which was very rough and stony, soon came to a place where there were branches, and we were at a loss which to take; but the course lay through a broad valley bounded by two ranges of mountains. We felt sure that our road did not cross either of these ranges, and these were our only guides. A little before dark we passed beyond the range of mountains, and on our right saw a road leading into the woods, and press ently heard the sound of-a bell, and saw through the trees a hacienda, to arrive at which we had to go on some distance, and then turn back by a private road. It was situated in a large clearing, with cucinera and
w
"
AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT. 101
sheds, and a large sugar-mill. ‘Twenty or thirty work- men, principally Indians, were assembled to give an account of their day’s work, and receive orders for the next. Our appearance created a great sensation. The proprietors of the hacienda, two brothers, stood in the door while we were talking with the men, and we rode up and asked permission to stop there for the night. The elder assented, but with an embarrassment that showed the state of alarm and suspicion existing in the country. ‘he gentlemen wore the common hacienda dress, and the interior was miserably poor, but had a hammock, and two rude frames with matting over them
for beds. There was a small room adjoining, in which
was the wife of one of them with a child. The propri- etors were men of education and intelligence, thorough- ly acquainted with the condition of the country, and we told them what had happened at Aguachapa, and that we were hurrying on to Guatimala. We had supper at a small table placed between the hammock and one of the beds, consisting of fried eggs, frigoles, and tortillas, as usual without knife, fork, or spoon.
After supper our elder host was called out, but in a few minutes returned, and, closing the door, told us that there was a great excitement among the workmen on our account. They did not believe our story of going to Guatimala, for a woman had seen us come in from the Guatimala road, and they believed that we were officers of Morazan retreating from the attack on Guatimala, and endeavouring to escape into San Salvador. Here was a ground of suspicion we had not anticipated. The gentleman was much agitated; he regretted that he was obliged to violate the laws of hospitality, but said we knew the distracted state of the country, and the phren-
sy of party spirit. He himself was against Morazan
102 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
his men were violent Cachurecos, and at this moment capable of committing any outrage. He had incurred great peril by receiving us for a moment under his roof, and begged us, both for our own sake and his, to leave his house ; adding that, even if we were of those unfor- tunate men, our horses should be brought up and we should go away unharmed; more he could not ‘promise. Now if we had really been the fugitives he supposed us, we should no doubt have been very thankful for his kindness ; but to be turned out by mistake in a dark night, an unknown country, and without any guide, was almost as bad as coming at us with a -blunderbuss. Fortunately, he was not a suspicious man; if he had been another Don Gregorio we should have “ walked Spanish ;”’ had secured Figoroa’s passport; it was the only thing that could have cleared our character. I showed it to
and, more fortunately still, my pertinacity
him, pointing to the extra flourish which the secretary had made of plenipotentiario, and I believe he was not more astonished at finding who had honoured him by taking possession of his house, than pleased that we
were not Morazan’s officers. Though an intelligent.
man, he had passed a retired life on his hacienda. He had heard of such a thing as ‘‘a ministro plenipoten- tiario,’’ but had never seen one. My accoutrements and the eagle on my hat sustained the character, and he call- ed in the major-domo and two leading men on the haci-. enda, read to them the passport, and explained to them the character of a ministro plenipotentiario, while I sat up on the bed with my coat off and hat on to show the eagle, and the captain suppressed all partialities for Morazan, and talked of my intimacy with Carrera. The people are so suspicious that, having once formed alk idea, they do not willingly abandon it, and it. was. un-.
A KIND HOST. 103
certain whether all this would satisfy them; but our host was warm in his efforts, the major-domo was flat- tered by being made the medium of communicating with the men, and his influence was at stake in satisfying them. It was one of Talleyrand’s maxims never to do to-day what you can put off till to-morrow. On this occasion at least of my diplomatic career I felt the ben- efit of the old opposite rule. From the moment I: saw Figoroa I had an eye only to getting his passport, and did not rest until [had itin my pocket. If we had waited to receive this with his letters, we should now have been in a bad position. If we escaped immediate violence, we should have been taken to the village, shut up in the cabildo, and exposed to all the dangers of an ignorant populace, at that moment excited by learning the suc- cess of Morazan and the defeat of Figoroa. . In setting out, our idea was that, if taken by the Cachurecos, we should be carried up to Guatimala; but we found that there was no accountability to Guatimala; the people were in a state to act entirely from impulses, and nothing could induce any party of men to set out for Guatimala, or under any circumstances to go farther than from village to village. This difficulty over, the major-domo promised us a guide before daylight for the next village. At three o’clock we were wakened by the creaking of the sugar-mill. We waited till daylight for a guide, but as none came we bade farewell to our kind host, and set out alone. The name of the hacienda is San José, but in the hurry of my movements I never learned the name of the proprietor. In the constant revolutions of Central America, it may happen that he will one day be flying for his life; in his hour of need, may he meet a heart as noble as his own.
At a distance of five leagues we reached the rancho.
104 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
of Hocotilla, where Don Saturnino and our men had slept. The road lay in a magnificent ravine, with a fine bottom land and noble mountain sides. We pass- ed through the straggling settlements of Oratorio and Leon, mostly single huts, where several times we saw Women snatch up their children and run into the woods at sight of us. Bury the war-knife, and. this valley would be equal to the most beautiful in Switzerland. At twelve o’clock we came upon four posts with a thatched roof, occupied by a scouting-party of Cachu- reco soldiers. We should have been glad to avoid them, but they could not have judged so from the way in which we shouted “ amigos!’ We inquired for Car- rera; expected to meet him on the road; Figoroa had told us he was coming; Figoroa had entered Aguacha- pa; and, taking special good care not to tell them that Figoroa had been driven out, we bade them good-by and hurried on. . ,
At twelve o’clock we reached the Rio de los Escla- vos, a wild and noble river, the bridge across which is the greatest structure in Central America, a memorial of the Spanish dominion. We crossed it and entered the village, a mere collection of huts, standing in a mag- nificent situation on the bank of the river, looking up to a range of giant mountains on the other side, covered to the top with noble pines. The miserable inhabitants were insensible to its beauties, but there were reasons to make them so. Every hostile expedition between Guatimala and San Salvador passed through their vil- lage. Twice within one week Morazan’s party had done so; the inhabitants carried off what they could, and, locking their doors, fled to the mountains. The last time, Morazan’s army was so straitened for provis- ions, and pressed by fear of pursuit, that huts were torn
APPRCACH TO GUATIMALA. 105
down for firewood, and bullocks slain and eaten half raw in the street, without bread or tortillas.
At two we set off again, and from the village entered a country covered with lava. At four we reached the hacienda of Coral de Piedra, situated on the crest of a stony country, looking like a castle, very large, with a church and village, where, although it rained, we did not stop, for the whole village seemed to be intoxicated. Opposite one house we were hailed by a Cachureco of- ficer, so tipsy that he could hardly sit on his horse, who came at us and told us how many of Morazan’s men he had killed. A little before dark, riding through a for- est, in the apprehension that we were lost, we emerged suddenly from the woods, and saw towering before us the great volcanoes of Agua and Fuego, and at the same moment were hailed by the joyful shouts of Don Satur- nino and our men. They had encamped ina small’ hut on the borders of a large plain, and the mules were turned out to pasture. Don Saturnino had been alarm- ed about us, but he had followed our parting injunction to go on, as, if any accident had happened, he could be of more service in Guatimala. They had not met Mora- zan’s army, having been at a hacienda off the road when it passed, and spins on, had not heard of the rout of Figoroa. .
The rancho contained a single small room, barely large enough for the man and woman who occupied it, but there was plenty of room out of doors. After a rough ride of more than fifty miles, with the most com- fortable reflection of being but one day from Guatima- la, I soon fell asleep.
The next morning one of the mules was missing, and we did not get off till-eight o’clock. ‘Toward evening we descended a long hill, and entered the plain of
Vou. II.—O
106 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
Guatimala. It looked beautiful, and I never thought I should be so happy to see it again. I had finished a journey of twelve hundred miles, and the gold of Peru could not have tempted me to undertake it again. At the gate the first man I saw was my friend Don Man- uel Pavon. I could but think, if Morazan had taken the city, where would he benow? Carrera was not in the city ; he had set out in pursuit of Morazan, but on the road received intelligence which induced him to turn off for Quezaltenango. I learned with deep satis- faction that not one of my acquaintances was killed, and, as I afterward found, not one of them had been in ' the battle. |
I gave Don Manuel the first intelligence of General Morazan. Not a word had been heard of him since he left the Antigua. Nobody had come up from that direc- tion; the people were still too frightened to travel, and the city had not recovered from its spasm of terror. As we advanced I met acquaintances who welcomed me back to Guatimala. I was considered as having run the gauntlet for life, and escape from dangers created a bond between us. I could hardly persuade myself that the people who recéived me so cordially, and whom I was really glad to meet again, were the same whose expul- sion by Morazan I had considered probable. If he had succeeded, not one of them would have been there to welcome me. Repeatedly I was obliged to stop and tell over the affair of Aguachapa; how many men Morazan had; what officers; whether I spoke to him; how he looked, and what he said. I introduced the captain ; each had his circle of listeners; and the cap- tain, as a slight indemnification for his forced ‘‘ Viva Carreras’’ on the road, feeling, on his arrival once more among civilized and well-dressed people, a comparative
ARRIVAL AT GUATIMALA. 107
security for liberty of speech, said that if Morazan’s horses had not been so tired, every man of Figoroa’s would have been killed. Unhappily, I could not but see that our news would have been more acceptable if “we could have reported Morazan completely prostrated, wounded, or even dead. . As we advanced I could per- ceive that the sides of the houses were marked by mus- ket-balls, and the fronts on the plaza were fearfully scarified. My house was near the plaza, and three musket-balls, picked out of the woodwork, were saved for my inspection, as a sample of the battle. In an hour after my arrival I had seen nearly all my old friends. Engrossed by my own troubles, I had not imagined the full extent of theirs. I cannot describe | the satisfaction with which I found myself once more among them, and for a little while, at least, at rest. I still had anxieties ; I had no letters from home, and Mr. Catherwood had not arrived; but I had no uneasiness about him, for he was not in the line of danger; and when I lay down I had the comfortable sensation that there was nothing to, drive me forward the next day. The captain took up his abode with me. It was an odd finale to his expedition against Guatimala; but, after all, it was better than remaining at the port.
Great changes had taken place in Guatimala since I ‘left, and it may not be amiss here to give a brief ac- count of what had occurred in my absence. The reader will remember the treaty between Carrera and Guz- man, the general of the State of Los Altos, by which the former surrendered to the latter four hundred old muskets. Since that time Guatimala had adopted Car- rera (or had been adopted by him, I hardly know which), and, on the ground that the distrust formerly entertained of him no longer existed, demanded a res-
108 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
titution of the muskets to him. The State of Los Altos refused. This state was at that time the focus of Liberal principles, and Quezaltenango, the capital, was the asylum of Liberals banished from Guatimala. Appre- hending, or pretending to apprehend, an invasion from that state, and using the restitution of the four hundred worthless muskets as a pretext, Carrera marched against Quezaltenango with one thousand men. The Indians, believing that he came to destroy the whites, assisted him. Guzman’s troops deserted him, and Carrera with his own hands took him prisoner, sick and encumbered with a greatcoat, in the act of dashing his horse down a deep ravine to escape: he sent to Guatimala Guz- man’s military coat, with the names