George Alexander Thompson

“ Hines, the gentleman alluded to, had not any improper intention; but every Englishman, whatever might be his rank or situation in life, felt himself warranted and called upon to dabble in politics; not knowing the mischief they might do; and he could not resist the temptation;—but, when he saw the turn the business had taken, he expressed himself much surprised and very sorry for the difficulties he had unwittingly occasioned. On his return to England, the poor man, who, I perceived, on my leaving Guatemala, was very unhappy, died at Belize. ”

“ However, by six o'clock the next morning, they were all on their return to the capital. As the roads, from without ten miles of it, are, in most places, perfectly impassable for carriages, the whole party were on mules or on horseback, and, as they were accompanied with their retinues of servants of every description, with all their requisite utensils and articles of furniture, even to their beds, they formed, as winding up the wild passes of the mountain, or scattered over the verdant plains, a spectacle highly picturesque and amusing. ”

“ On the left, was a large lake, a solitary waste of water, but which, being lighted, instantaneously, by the tropical sun, in his rapid rising, dazzled like a mirror, when its reflection is suddenly flashed upon the sight. The brilliancy of the scene, and the freshness of the morning air, were highly exhilarating: my companion was lively and chirping. I found he had many small commissions to do for the young ladies, besides the important one above detailed,—such as combs and other trinkets. ”

“ How different is the situation of one, who, far from his home and relatives, lives on the sea-shore! he places his foot on the water, and he touches the grand material link of the universe, which seems, also morally, to unite him with the social intercourse of the whole terraqueous globe. These sensations, heightened by the obliging attention shewn me by Mr. Barcaistegie, who had provided for me accommodation in his own house, made me feel indescribably cheerful and happy. ”

“ My attention was occupied the rest of the evening by the dancers. All was over by eleven, and, in the course of half an hour after, a dead silence pervaded the whole village of Amatitañ. Just as I was dropping to sleep, I heard the sound of music, at a distance: at first, it seemed but the vibrations of harmony which the ear carries away with it from a ball, and which, like other doubtful-gotten property, is often very troublesome: it presently became more distinct, and, at last, stopped before our house, where it continued to play for an hour. ”

“ I never passed a party of these travellers but I remarked that those, who were riding in this fashion, seemed to be the most cheerful and contented amongst them, and the least tired with the journey;—a circumstance very difficult to account for, since the position of each is thus rendered very cramped and uncomfortable.
A stout, handsome negro-like woman, a real Patagonian in stature, with her long black hair falling in crisp corkscrew ringlets down her neck, and more scantily attired than decency would suggest, received me at the door of her hut, with a courteous smile. ”

“ The three largest mountains are, in fact, quite close to the city, and they rise with gentle, uniform, slopes from the very streets of it, being cultivated nearly half the way up with the nopal or cochineal plant and indigo, and interspersed with luxuriant gardens and grotesque Indian villages; having the remainder of their heights adorned, to their very summits, with trees of an exuberant growth. ”

“ When I left the republic, I felt assured that it would have been carried into execution by the British, and I cannot suppress my mortification that foreigners should have the exclusive honour, to say nothing of the advantage, of so great an enterprise;—for it is one which can be but once effected amidst the noble achievements of eventful time. ”

“ In these countries, a man never shaves himself on a journey: he omits the operation, also, when he is, however slightly, indisposed. In travelling, there is an evident advantage in not shaving too often: the moustache is a great protection to the lips, by shading and preventing them from chapping. After dinner, I called for my dressing-case, not having shaved for some days, and commenced the operation, to the evident astonishment of Don Simon, who shewed, by his gestures, that he considered the act as bordering upon madness,—and to the discomfiture of my barber-servant. ”

“ He was the chief of San Salvador when that province so strenuously resisted the tyranny of Iturbide, and prevented, by force of arms, the violent union which the then emperor desired to effect between the two kingdoms of Mexico and Guatemala. He is of a mild, calculating nature, of a clear, penetrating genius, and is esteemed and respected even by those who differ from him in politics. ”

“ But, whether this horrible event arose from private or political causes, its fatal effects to the unfortunate individual and his agonized relatives render it alike incapable of mitigation or distinction: it makes no difference to the parties whether a man be gathered up to his ancestors by the assassin's dagger, the pestilence of climate, a musket-ball or twenty-four pounder; — but to die in the public service, in whatever mode death may be encountered, claims something more than the solitary tribute of domestic regret. ”

“ We were on the borders of the Tierra Caliente: the agave was not here to be found with its refreshing beverage, the pulque, but, instead, the sugar-cane was luxuriating in the moist soil and hot atmosphere.
The first notice I perceived of the change of climate, was the effect it had upon our poor animals. The mule I rode was a little thick in the wind, and I believe very old; but she was nevertheless a fine animal, and I was surprised to find her, towards three o'clock in the afternoon, after having travelled about twenty miles, come to a stand-still. ”

“ The lake which is of fresh water, as its name Dulce denotes, is a fine expanse of about thirty miles by twenty, so that it forms a beautiful object as you descend down to the coast: as the creek, which leads into the small gulf, or Golfeto, communicating with the Atlantic is very narrow, its mouth is not discernible, and the borders of the gulf are therefore, as far as they can be made out, composed of thickly wooded slopes rising gradually into a spacious verdant amphitheatre. ”

“ Whilst these thrive, political economists say people will be happy, and, even when they do not, they may, sometimes, be found to be happy without them. Those who were assembled in this instance seemed to be as joyous and free from thought as if such subjects had never entered into their contemplation. The transitions from care to frivolity, from anxiety to carelessness, are so rapid and imperceptible, especially amongst the vulgar, that it is the province of a wise government to provide, as much as possible, for the amusements of the public. ”

“ As we were to set off early in the morning, I could have wished to have retired also to the vacant couch in the apartment which had been prepared for my reception; but I dreaded to pass the night in the room with the poor lad, whose bursts of agony now broke, with periodical uniformity of length and tone, on the stillness which prevailed. The reiterated voice of distress is afflicting, at all times, but most so when it is out of our power to relieve the cause of the affliction: we then become identified with the afflicted, and must leave the rest to patience and endurance. ”

“ I attribute much of the good health I enjoyed in my travels to conforming to the practice and usages of the places through which I passed; and I would advise every traveller, in South America, to do so as far as he is able.
The insect, called the cigarra, makes a chirping noise like the cricket, but which, when heard from the multiplied throats of these insects, which seem to line all the paths by myriads, resembles the hissing of boiling water. ”

“ We travelled on three leagues farther, and arrived at a small village, after clambering up the side of a long steep hill, which in many countries would be considered a mountain, and stopped to refresh ourselves at a poor hovel. The name of the place is Frayjanes; and I remember nothing more about it than that we lunched and took our siesta under a tree before the hut, and that there were a great quantity of dirty children and a few little pigs. ”

“ The mules had been unloaded, and the baggage was lying in disorder before the small inn at which we had taken up our quarters. Don Mateo, who knew the necessity of precaution from the serious loss he had so unaccountably sustained, was ordering our peons to dispose the things in a safer and more compact form, when the officer commanding the troops, coming up and over-hearing his remarks, which he considered directed against his men, immediately repelled the attack with the bitterest epithets, accompanied with the most threatening gestures. ”

“ It is unnecessary to add, that Guatemala would be naturally desirous of giving every facility towards the final adjustment of such boundaries, especially with a nation whom they so much look up to and respect as they do Great Britain; and that, as far as they are concerned, they would not, of course, think of questioning any sovereign right, which, at any time or under any circumstances, might possibly be claimed by his Britannic Majesty to the territory alluded to, and which is of far greater importance as a depot for the British trade with the American Republics than is generally supposed. ”

“ The noise of words continued; the officer had drawn his sword, when Don Mateo stepped up to him, and muttering two or three short sentences in his ear, in which I could distinguish the words "Su Majestad Britanica," the former became suddenly pacified, and, approaching me respectfully, said, he was far from intending any affront to myself or my companion; only he would never allow the character of his soldiers to be called in question, who, he added, were as honest fellows as any to be found in Mexico. ”

“ The groans which the poor boy uttered, but which he endeavoured to suppress as much as possible, were heard, at intervals, intermixing with the joyous shouts of the little girls, the solemn periods of the political commentators, and the sprightly repartees of those whose hearts were interested by the passions of gaming or of love: for there was card-playing in one corner of the room; and love-making is a thing of course where young people, being congregated together, find that they have nothing better to do with themselves. ”

“ A restless spirit of domestic ambition, which had lain dormant under the thraldom of the gorgeous newly-created dignity then threatening to overwhelm it, burst suddenly into a flame;—the president and his party were attacked, and a civil war ensued. ”

“ We arrived at Cuernavaca about six o'clock in the evening, after passing, for the last three leagues, through one of the most beautiful countries that can be imagined. At this distance from the town there was encamped a requia, or drove of mules, to the number of 140 or more, conveying China goods to Mexico from the South Sea. The beauty and splendour of these articles, consisting chiefly of crapes, and the richest silk velvets of the most extraordinary and beautiful patterns, together with gold and silver embroidered muslins and worked silk counterpanes, can hardly be conceived. ”

“ It is true, that the humble portion of society to which I particularly allude, is so widely separated, both by local situation and intellectual feeling, from the seat of government and the moral spring of political transactions, as to be scarcely sensible even of the existence of the former, and seldom alive to any impulse which it might be attempted to impart to them through the remote vibration of the latter. ”

“ There is a carriage-road the whole way from the port to the town, principally over a fine green sod, and through avenues intersecting a thick wood, which, in the summer time, is so umbrageous as hardly to leave the route, where the road should be, distinguishable. This wood is infested by a small tiger, which is very fierce, but seldom attacks a man, unless affronted: he does not require the same provocation to assault the herds, especially the calves and young mules. ”

“ Two sides of the city, those to the south and east, are bounded by the three grand conical mountains of Guatemala, and the other two sides by craggy and luxuriant sierras of less elevation; amongst which winds the road to the new capital. The most beautiful of the three large mountains is to the east: it is called the Water Mountain, as emitting, at times, cold water from its northern side: the other two, to the south, also emit water, but as the same is always hot, they have acquired the designation of the Fire Mountains. ”

“ The churches in the capital amount to thirty. They are ornamented in a most costly manner; are magnificent in their construction and munificent in maintaining great pomp and splendour in their respective religious functions: it is certain that, in the republic, the cost of religious worship is equal to twice the expenses of the government. It will be seen by the above account that the clergy are no unimportant branch of the political establishment of Guatemala. ”

“ The most respectable families think it no degradation to be engaged in trade: as there is no bank and no interest for money, this is the only way in which they can employ their capitals. Most of the richer classes of inhabitants derive their incomes from the cattle bred upon their estates and their crops of indigo, cochineal, and tobacco, which they barter with the European merchants for dry goods ”

“ On the right, were shaded groves, and cultivated slopes, and knolled hills, rising upon each other in progressive grandeur, till their summits became, as it were, the base of the tender gray streak which marked the distant outline of the Andes;—whilst on the left, the country was a series of table lands and valleys, formed by wide and bold undulations, and terminating with the three mountains, clad with foliage to their summit, and looking like gigantic warriors upon the pigmy multitudes by which they were surrounded. ”

“ As we approached the village of Amatitañ, the country became more and more interesting. From the summit of a lofty eminence, which our animals had gained with laborious exertion, the prospects which opened before us were enchanting and terrific, like the charms of some beautiful female maniac. ”

“ Don Simon began by insisting on the folly of their wishing to be all alike: he had only brought with him enough for one; and oh, my wounded sensibility! this was not love, but a piece of scarlet pelisse cloth, which was very scarce in the country, but which, by dint of his influence in the line, together with the alacrity which he always manifested in doing a kindness, he had contrived to procure in fulfilment of a commission given to him by the elder young lady. ”