^}^ 
 
 ^¥\ 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 CENTRAL AMERICA
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 AND THE 
 
 WEST COAST OF AFRICA, 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS, FOOTE, 
 
 'W'lIDO'^^ OF TPIE L.A.TE 
 
 HENEY GRANT FOOTE, Esq., 
 Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Lagos. 
 
 . ' , J i J > ■ ' 
 
 T. CAUTLEY NEWBY, Publisher, 30, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square. 
 
 1869. 
 
 [all rights reserved.]
 
 t C < ■ I 
 
 • 4 

 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 5 ERRATA. 
 
 J - 
 
 V^ PAGE. 
 
 '^ 65 For "on the morning of 16th April," read "on the 
 night, &c." 
 
 K 71 J^or "Tree Cotton," read "Cotton Tree." 
 
 5 78 For "It seemed I was several minutes," read "It 
 
 r- seemed I was several seconds." 

 
 PAET I.
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL 
 
 AMEEICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 After a residence of upwards of eighteen months 
 in Grejtown, or San Juan del Norte, in which 
 place my husband held an official appointment, 
 he was removed to the neighbouring state of 
 Salvador; and on the 3rd September, 1853, we 
 started on our long and toilsome, though interest- 
 ing, journey. 
 
 Perhaps a short description of this bustling, 
 but little-known seaport of Nicaragua, or Grey- 
 
 B
 
 }i EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 town as more commonly called, may not be out of 
 place. 
 
 At the time I was residing there it could 
 boast of one of the finest harbours in the 
 world — a naiTOw, but deep passage being the 
 only inlet into the broad expanse of water which 
 washed its low, swampy shores. 
 
 Large men-of-war, and deeply laden merchant 
 ships could lie safely at anchor within hail of 
 land ; and however much the great rolling waves 
 of the Atlantic might be raging outside, the har- 
 bour preserved its same calm aspect. 
 
 Grey town is built on a loose, sandy soil ; but 
 on account of the deluges of rain, which last more 
 or less, nine months of the year, it is extremely 
 fertile, the grass growing nearly down to the 
 water's edge. The houses are all built of wood; 
 and groups of trees have been left here and there, 
 giving a pretty appearance to the little town, 
 when seen from the water. Most of these white- 
 washed buildings have green verandahs and
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 3 
 
 porticoes, but are built too slightly and hastily 
 to have much pretension to beauty. 
 
 The inhabitants are principally Americans ; 
 but there is a sprinkling of Europeans, and the 
 lower orders are nearly entirely composed of 
 Nicaraguans, and Jamaica negroes. 
 
 In consequence of this mixture of nationalities, 
 there were a great many days to be observed in 
 the course of the year. The Americans had their 
 Fourth of July, the Nicaraguans their " Dia de 
 Independencia,'' the Jamaica negroes the anni- 
 versary of the day they became free men, and 
 last, though not least, the English had their 
 Twenty -fourth of May, when a royal salute was 
 fired, and the British flag floated over the 
 piazza. 
 
 I must not let our Queen's birthday pass with- 
 out mentioning an amusing serenade given by 
 the black men, beneath our windows, at mid- 
 night. 
 
 After giving three cheers for the Queen, the 
 
 B 2
 
 4 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 loyal Jamaicans struck up a most dismal howl, 
 meant to be " God save the Queen," in which 
 they swore Her Majesty should " nebber, nebber 
 be a slave,'' making a medley of " Rule Britannia" 
 and the National Anthem. 
 
 On first arriving at Greytown I could scarcely 
 sleep from the noise at night of the insects, 
 which in that burning climate are almost as 
 numerous as the leaves of the forest. 
 
 The tree cockroach, especially, makes a sound 
 so loud and shrill, that it can be heard at an 
 immense distance. The frogs, also, during the 
 rainy season, are great disturbers throughout 
 the night, keeping up an incessant croaking, in 
 which the loud, hoarse voice of the bull frog is 
 prominent. 
 
 Snakes, wild boars, and tiger cats abound in 
 the forests at the back of the town, which are 
 intersected by numerous small but beautiful 
 lagoons, whose banks are clothed with beautiftil 
 trees and flowering creepers. Amongst the
 
 RECOLLECTION'S OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 5 
 
 foriiier tlie graceful tamarinds and fan-like 
 cocoa-nuts were my favourites. 
 
 The lovely lakes swarm witli aligators, huge, 
 slimy monsters, smelling horribly of musk, and 
 looking, when lying half out of the water, like 
 trunks of fallen trees. 
 
 Sea and fresh-water fish are also to be found 
 in the lagoons, and our favourite recreation was 
 a paddle on the still waters in our canoe at sun- 
 set, where beneath the shade of some towering 
 tamarind tree we fished, or attempted to fish, 
 listening to the chattering of the monkeys over- 
 head, and the wild cry of the parrots and macaws, 
 disturbed by our near approach. 
 
 One of these lagoons is exquisitely beautiful, 
 being completely embosomed in palm trees, 
 which here grow to a size I never saw elsewhere. 
 Not a speck of sun ever visits its still waters, 
 and all around seems tinged with green from the 
 meeting of branches overhead. 
 
 Everything sounds musical on such a spot —
 
 O EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEEICA. 
 
 the cry of the birds, the splash of the oar, even 
 the lowered tones of the human voice, and the 
 solitude is so profound that a feeling of solemnity 
 steals into the mind of the most light-hearted. 
 
 The costume of the Nicaraguan women is very 
 pretty. My astonishment was great when I first 
 made the acquaintance of my laundress, a pretty 
 young woman, with an exquisite figure, all 
 dressed in white muslin and gold spangles. 
 
 The loose body, or rather chemisette, of her 
 dress was separate from her skirt, and cut low 
 on the neck, with short furbelowed sleeves, and 
 richly trimmed with gold spangles. The skirt 
 was also glittering with the same ornaments, 
 and gave to view a foot and ankle of beautiful 
 proportions. A rebosa^ or scarf, of coloured 
 cotton, with a deep fringe, completed her 
 costume. 
 
 A vision of English washerwomen floated in 
 my mind as I looked on her, and the remem- 
 brance was not flattering to my national pride.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. / 
 
 This magnificent damsel charged no less than 
 three dollars a dozen for washing, and this was 
 considered a reasonable price for Greytown, 
 many requiring five dollars, equal to one pound 
 British money. 
 
 I have heard of some reckless bachelors who 
 were in the custom of throwing away their 
 minor articles of clothing after one wear, finding 
 it cheaper to buy new ones to having them 
 washed at this rate. 
 
 Provisions are also an enormous price in 
 Greytown — fourpence for one egg, four shillings 
 for a lean fowl, and wretched meat at a shilling 
 per pound. Fruit and vegetables are also scarce 
 and dear, a dreadful privation in the tropics, 
 where they are not luxuries, but necessaries of 
 life. 
 
 The cause of the excessive price of everything 
 was the fortnightly influx of Californians, who, 
 at the time I speak of, made Greytown their route 
 to and from California.
 
 8 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 In consequence of the bad management of the 
 transit company these people were often delayed 
 in the town for want of river steamers to convey 
 them up the San Juan, and their numbers caused 
 a perfect famine in the land. 
 
 Provisions rose on these occasions to a fabulous 
 price, and were often unattainable at any, the 
 consequence of which was many fell victims to 
 want of proper food and accommodation. 
 
 The immense quantity of preserved meat con- 
 sumed in Greytown was something marvellous. 
 One Yankee speculator entirely roofed his house 
 -with the tin plates of meat cans, which used to 
 shine in the sun like glass. The heat of such a 
 metal covering may be imagined near the equator. 
 
 The opening of the Panama Railroad was the 
 destruction of the prosperity of Greytown, the 
 travellers to and from California preferring that 
 less troublesome route to the two seas. The 
 beautiful harbour of Greytown has also in late 
 years been shut out to vessels of large tonnage,
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. U 
 
 by a shifting sand bank, which has narrowed the 
 passage from the sea through which they used 
 to enter without difficulty. 
 
 On the 3rd September, 1853, we bade adieu 
 to the swampy shores of Greytown, or San Juan 
 del Norte, as the natives call it, and started on 
 our long journey to the neighbouring state of 
 San Salvador. Strange as it may seem, I could 
 not help feeling a pang of regret as we stepped 
 on board the little steamer which was to bear us 
 to another home, and I suppose there is no place in 
 the Avorld, however disagreeable, where we do not 
 feel something like this after any lengthened 
 sojourn. My regret at parting from our old 
 house was a little lessened, however, by severe 
 symptoms of fever which had declared themselves 
 a few days before our departure, and I felt how 
 necessary it was both for my husband and myself 
 to have complete change of air, after an eighteen 
 months' residence in one of the most unhealthy 
 spots in the world.
 
 10 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMEEICA. 
 
 Our fellow-travellers were tlie new American 
 Minister for Nicaragua, his secretary of legation, 
 and the American Consul of Grey town. The 
 Minister had arrived in Greytown a few days 
 before we intended leaving, and one of the Ameri- 
 can Company's steamers being placed at his dis- 
 posal, he kindly asked us to share it with him, 
 we thereby escaping the misery of a passage by 
 one of the ordinary steamers, which were always 
 crowded to suffocation. 
 
 These small river steamers are very peculiar 
 in their construction — long and narrow, with 
 the paddle-wheel behind, to allow of the vessel 
 threading its way up the tortuous river San Juan. 
 The scenery, which, around Greytown is low and 
 uninteresting, improved as we ascended, and beau- 
 tiful trees of every form, and various shades of 
 green, dipped their branches into the river. The 
 most remarkable of these were the feathery cocoa- 
 nuts, the eboe, with its purple blossoms, from which 
 the Indian belles extract an oil for the hair, the
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 11 
 
 palm, and the majestic tamarind, but their 
 beauty was much marred by the thick under- 
 growth of trees, and rank vegetation of 
 parasites. 
 
 On Sunday morning we arrived at the Cas- 
 tilleo Kapids. The small town consists of about 
 fifty miserable houses, and an old Spanish fort, 
 falling to decay, but occupying a commanding 
 position on the summit of the hill. The only 
 interest attaching to it is, that it was the scene 
 of one of Nelson's early exploits. An unfortun- 
 ate lieutenant and a few soldiers keep guard in 
 this dismal residence, and afforded me an oppor- 
 tunity of admiring the uniform of the gallant 
 defenders of Nicaragua. It consists simply of a 
 shirt, anything but white, displaying the arms 
 al fresco^ trousers with a blue stripe, and any 
 description of hat or cap which the fancy of the 
 wearer may suggest. We were obliged to stay 
 a day at the Castilleo, as there was no steamer 
 ready to take us on before the next morning.
 
 12 KECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 We found toleraLly comfortable quarters at an 
 inn, kept by a German and his wife, but our 
 slumbers were somewhat disturbed by the danc- 
 ing and fiddling kept up in honour of the arrival 
 of the American Minister. 
 
 The following morning we pursued our voyage 
 in a small and uncomfortable little steamer. 
 Three cheers were given us by the few assembled 
 inhabitants at parting, and an American flag, 
 nearly as large as the town itself, waved gaily 
 in the fresh breeze, and I daresay warmed the 
 hearts of our fellow-travellers, for few things 
 give such a thrill of pleasure in a foreign country 
 as the sight of the flag that we love, recalling 
 home, and loving faces, and old familiar scenes. 
 
 The river widened considerably as we ap- 
 proached the Lake of Granada; and here we 
 embarked on board the " Ornatepe,'' a large and 
 commodious steamer, with excellent accommoda- 
 tion, and a most obliging commander. We 
 soon arrived at Fort San Carlos, another
 
 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 13 
 
 miserable collection of huts, at the entrance of 
 the lake, with its " Commandante " and dozen 
 
 soldiers. Mr. B and suite Avent on shore 
 
 to pay an official visit; but Henry and myself 
 did not think the place sufficiently inviting to 
 take the trouble to accompany them, and so we 
 remained on board, enjoying the delicious, cool 
 evening breeze. 
 
 In about an hour we were again cutting 
 our way through the clear lake, which is a 
 magnificent sheet of water, blue as the sky 
 above, and studded with beautiful volcanic 
 islands. Before nightfall we came in sight of 
 the largest of these, Ornatepe, and its sister 
 island, Madeira, and at mid-night we dropped 
 anchor in Virgin Bay, a place which will ever 
 be held in abhorrence by the unfortunate mos- 
 quito-bitten passengers of the " Ornatepe." 
 Never before had I suffered so much from the 
 attacks of these formidable enemies, and the 
 heavy eyes and cross looks of our fellow-passen-
 
 li RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 gers showed that they had not fared better. The 
 fresh morning breeze, however, and the know- 
 ledge that in a few hours we should be in 
 Granada soon restored our spirits, and Henry 
 and Mr B. amused themselves by quizzing the 
 appearance of the rising town of Virgin Bay, to 
 the great disgust of some of the Americans 
 present, for the citizens of the vainest nation in 
 the world pride themselves most particularly 
 upon the facility with which they build up their 
 wooden towns. 
 
 The little town of Virgin Bay consists of a 
 collection of small houses, principally constructed 
 of wood, but neatly painted and whitewashed, 
 gleaming on the side of a sloping hill. The 
 situation is certainly very beautiful, with the 
 calm clear lake at its base, and the blue moun- 
 tains of Ornatepe almost directly opposite. The 
 usual " Deputation of American Citizens " came 
 off to pay their respects to their minister, and 
 armed, of course, with many complaints, which
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 15 
 
 they considered it his bounden duty immediately 
 to redress. 
 
 Virgin Bay is a short cut to the Pacific, and 
 a few miles on horseback over very bad roads, 
 will, I believe, take the traveller to San Juan 
 del Sul, which lies nearly opposite, on the Pacific 
 side. This was the favourite route to California 
 until the completion of the Panama railway. 
 
 In a short time we were again on our way, and 
 at four o'clock anchored in sight of Granada, 
 the first Spanish town on the lake. We imme- 
 mediately landed, glad to be once more on terra 
 firma^ for however comfortable a ship may be, 
 it is still but a floating prison, and in a tropical 
 climate about the hottest prison you can be in. 
 Henry and myself were most kindly received at 
 the house of a German merchant, who fortunately 
 spoke English very well. We spent a pleasant 
 week at Granada, which is considered the first 
 commercial town of the state of Nicaragua. To 
 an European eye, accustomed to houses of three
 
 16 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEEICA. 
 
 and four stories in height, those of Granada 
 appear insignificant, as they are ail built long 
 and low on account of the frequent earthquakes, 
 but this impression is dispelled on entering the 
 courtyard, open to the sky, and surrounded by 
 large, lofty, well-furninshed rooms. In every 
 bed-room a grass hammock is slung, inviting the 
 lazy to repose, and making even the most active 
 incline to indulge in the dolcefar niente of life. 
 
 We took several charming rides about the 
 environs of Granada, which are exceedingly 
 pretty, the blue lake forming an exquisite 
 foreground to waving woods, for ever green. 
 
 During our stay, my husband was invited to a 
 banquet, given by the authorities of Granada to 
 the American Minister, at which the speech of one 
 of the notabilities present particularly struck him 
 as indicative of the unsettled state of the Nicara- 
 guan mind at that epoch. On rising to return 
 thanks for the toast of " Nicaragua," this gentle- 
 man expressed his fervent hope " that in a short
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 17 
 
 time the state of Nicaragua might form one of 
 the brightest stars in the c^lorious flag of the 
 United States;" a hope that the notorious 
 Walker subsec|ueQtly endeavoured to fulfiL 
 
 On the 1st of September everything was 
 arranged for our departure, and we and the 
 American minister agreed to form one party; 
 but the Fates had ordained it otherwise. Every- 
 one in Granada advised us to try mules instead 
 of horses, as the roads at this season were very 
 heavy. We consented to do so, though I have 
 always had an inveterate dislike to those most 
 self-willed of animals. At four o'clock we were 
 ready to start, the three baggage mules having 
 been sent on in advance. Several friends accom- 
 panied us, and we formed quite a large cavalcade 
 through the streets of Granada. Before we had 
 proceeded more than a mile, I began to enter- 
 tain doubts of my mule ; he shied at all the pigs 
 and chickens, which in Granada pick up a scanty 
 living in the streets, and as soon as he got into 
 
 c
 
 18 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 the open country, he fairly ran away with me 
 into the hushes. Henry insisted on my dis- 
 mounting and trying his mule, which was of 
 rather a more amiahle disposition, while he 
 jumped on the hack of mine, imagining that a 
 man's strength would soon conquer his refractory 
 spirit; but the contest ended in the creature 
 breaking the strong iron bit between his teeth, 
 so we determined to return to the town, and 
 exchange our mules for horses. 
 
 We had scarcely reached our friend's house 
 when the truth of those words, " whatever is, is 
 best," was forcibly proved to us by a fearful 
 thunderstorm bursting over our heads, accom- 
 panied by a deluge of rain, to all of which we 
 should have been exposed but for my uncom- 
 promising mule. We thought with commisera- 
 tion of our poor fellow travellers who had con- 
 tinued their journey, and were, therefore, in the 
 midst of the down pour. 
 
 Next morning, at eight o'clock, we again made
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 19 
 
 a start, having procured two docile, but spirited 
 little horses, whose easy "andar" made riding no 
 fatigue. Several gentlemen of Granada accom- 
 panied us as far as Masaga, a large Indian town 
 six leagues from Granada, very prettily situated 
 in the midst of fruit trees. The roads were 
 fearfully muddy, and our horses often sank above 
 their knees, but we were a merry party, notwitli- 
 standing all difficulties, and arrived without 
 accident at our first resting place. 
 
 Masaga boasts of two or three posadas and 
 about half a dozen churches, and is famous for 
 the manufacture of straw mats, which in this hot 
 climate are an excellent substitute for carpets. 
 They are exceedingly fine in texture, and either 
 entirely white, or ornamented with squares of 
 black and red alternately, the efiect of which is 
 very pretty. They are not over durable, how- 
 ever, seldom lasting more than a year, but their 
 price is low. They are entirely manufactured 
 by the Indians, who seem to be extremely expert 
 
 c 2
 
 20 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTKAL AMERICA. 
 
 with tlieir hands. Their carved bowls, made 
 from the tree gourds, are beautiful and curious, 
 considering the only tool employed is a common 
 pen-knife. 
 
 Henry, who had been much in the East, was 
 struck by the great resemblance the Indians of 
 Central America bear to the Malays, the features, 
 hair, and colour of skin, being precisely similar. 
 
 The fame of our arrival soon spread through 
 the town, and presently the posada was besieged 
 by a motly crowd, all anxious to get a peep at 
 the " estrangeros." 
 
 Several children with whooping-cough w^ere 
 brought to me to cure, the poor Indians imagin- 
 ing that all foreigners must have a knowledge of 
 the healing art. I took out my homoepathic box 
 and dosed them with sundry globules of bella- 
 donna, much to the awe and astonishment of the 
 assembled mothers, who seemed to expect that 
 some miracle Avas about to be performed. After 
 a time the crowd dispersed, and we enjoyed a 
 night's refreshing rest after our long ride.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERtCA. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In the morning we proceeded on our journey to 
 Managua, a distance of eight leagues. The 
 country through which we passed was most 
 beautiful — a perfect wilderness of trees and 
 flowers, often reminding me of Devonshire in 
 its fertile loveliness and rich red soil. What a 
 pity that such an exquisite country should be 
 allowed to run to waste ! Often for several leagues 
 there was not a sign of any living thing, except 
 the wild forest birds overhead. It seemed 
 strange even to hear our own voices in this
 
 22 EE0OLLECTIONS OP CENTKAL AMERICA. 
 
 beautiful solitude, and I thought Milton must 
 have imagined such a scene when he wrote his 
 " Comus." 
 
 A short Avay from Managua a strange sight met 
 our view. A whole valley lay before us, one 
 mass of black lava, looking like an immense 
 ploughed field. 
 
 This eruption must have occurred many years 
 ago, and the volcano is now considered extinct, 
 but not the less dangerous, perhaps, for its hidden 
 fires. 
 
 In the afternoon we arrived at Managna, the 
 seat of the Government (or mis-government 
 rather), of the State of Nicaragua. We rode up 
 to the principal hotel, and there met once more 
 with our fellow-travellers who had come to their 
 journey's end, and gave us a most laughable 
 account of their adventures since we parted. 
 
 Mr. B — congratulated us that we had escaped 
 that dreadful night when his horse had rolled 
 .with him in the mud three times.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 23, 
 
 The rain commenced almost directly after oiir 
 arrival, so we had no chance of seeing any- 
 thing of the town, but as far as we could 
 judge from the windows of the hotel, it was poor 
 enough. I reclined in the large hammock all 
 the evening, rather tired after my two days' 
 journey, while the gentlemen sat around talk- 
 ing and smoking, that delightful resource, and per- 
 haps the cause of the idleness in which men and 
 women equally indulge in this country. The 
 unusual sight of so many foreigners of course 
 drew a crowd to the doors, so much so, indeed, 
 that we were often forced to close them. 
 
 Next morning we bade adieu with much regret 
 to our^American friends, as we were in a hurry to 
 get to our journey's end, the rains increasing in 
 violence every day. The scenery continued most 
 beautiful with tantalizing glimpses of the lake of 
 Managna meeting us at every turn of the road, and 
 I regretted much not having time to get a nearer 
 view. At three o'clock we arrived at Matrares
 
 24 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 — a wretched little Indian village with one poor 
 posada. The rain was coming down in torrents, 
 or I think we should have proceeded, so great 
 was Henry's disgust at the dirt and discomfort of 
 everything. 
 
 After a sleepless night, we were ready for a 
 start by day-break, and the sweet morning air 
 refreshed us, for nothing can be more delicious 
 than the first three hours of the day in the rainy 
 season. The sun rises brilliantly, with scarcely 
 a cloud to be seen in the sky, while the rain of 
 the previous night has given an exquisite cool- 
 ness and lightness to the clear atmosphere. At 
 eight the sun becomes oppressively hot, and 
 heavy clouds are seen looming in the distance, 
 fortelling the deluge that will follow at three 
 o'clock. 
 
 After passing through one pretty Indian 
 village, called Nagarote, full of magnificent trees, 
 we arrived at our next resting place — a charm- 
 ingly situated little town inhabited principally
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 25 
 
 by Indians, and bearing a very indifferent 
 character for honesty throughout the State — but 
 we had no reason to comphiin of PueWa Nueva, 
 as we found more comfortable quarters than we 
 had yet met with in Nicaragua, always except- 
 ing Granada. The posada was kept by a nice 
 old widow, u'ith a large family of pretty daugh- 
 ters ; it was delightfully clean, and everything 
 about the place showed a refinement rarely to be 
 met with in Nicaragua. I felt quire ready for 
 another eight leagues ride after, I believe, about 
 twelve hours sleep, and though it has been said 
 that no one should sleep more than eight hours 
 at a time, I wish the hard-hearted wret^ih who 
 uttered the rash opinion could travel in Central 
 America in the rainy season. 
 
 A wayside cross attracted our attention just 
 on the outskirts of Puebla Nueva, and on enquiry, 
 we found it was the spot where an unfortunate 
 English merchant captain had been murdered a 
 year before. He was taking a quiet walk, when
 
 26 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 a dozen men rushed out upon him from the 
 neighbouring wood, robbed him of everything he 
 possessed, and after liacking him cruelly with 
 their machetes (akind'of bowie knife with which 
 every Indian goes armed), left him for dead ; the 
 man who drove the cart containing his luggage 
 and pistols was unfortunately in advance, but 
 getting alarmed at his non-appearance, returned 
 in search of him, and bore him to the next 
 village, where he shortly expired. How sad, yet 
 beautiful, is the appearance of these way-side 
 crosses, with their chaplets of fresh flowers? 
 generally to be met with in the most lonely 
 forest roads, and in spots where one would 
 imagine a thought of evil could never be 
 liarboured. 
 
 The roads between Puebla Nueva and Leon are 
 very good, and we made the eight leagues at 
 the rate of six miles an hour, which is very well 
 for Central American travelling. The two last 
 leagues of our journey were excessively hot, as
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTEAL AMERICA. 27 
 
 the neiglibourhood of Leon is more destitute of 
 trees than any other part of Nicaragua that we 
 had seen. We were glad after our fatiguing ride 
 to find ourselves comfortably housed in a beauti- 
 ful English-looking room, with curtained win- 
 dows, and easv-chairs in abundance. The owner 
 
 7 w 
 
 of this mansion — an English merchant, long 
 resident in the country — was absent ; but we 
 were most kindly welcomed by his wife and 
 sister. 
 
 We stayed a week in this dull, old cathedral 
 town, in the hope of hearing of some vessel 
 leaving the seaport of Realejo for La Union, in 
 San Salvador. Leon is so like an old cathedral 
 town in England in its venerable dullness, 
 that had it not been for the dark faces and 
 strange costumes of the inhabitants, I could have 
 fancied myself once more in Salisbury or 
 Exeter. Nothing to me is so dispiriting 
 as a dull town. I can enjoy the deep 
 solitude of the forest, feel rapture in a wild
 
 28 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 mountain path, or on a lonely sea-shore, and 
 there is no music so sweet to my ears as the rush 
 of the waves, or the whisper of the trees ; but, a 
 dull town is the worst of all solitudes. Leon 
 can boast of rather a fine cathedral, it being a 
 massive stone edifice, in better repair than most 
 of the Central American churches ; but not to be 
 named with the Roman Catholic cathedrals of 
 Europe. It is entirely destitute of fine carving 
 and pictures, while the ornaments used in adorn- 
 ing tlie altars are mean and tawdry. We 
 ascended the tower by a winding stair, to have a 
 view of the surrounding country, which is 
 certainly very beautiful, and almost repaid one 
 for mounting so many stairs— no light feat in a 
 tropical climate. 
 
 After waiting in vain to hear of some chance 
 of proceeding by sea, we determined to ride to 
 Chinandega — a prettily situated town twelve 
 
 miles from Leon. Miss M agreed to 
 
 accompany us, her brother having a house at
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTEAL AMERICA. 29 
 
 Chinanclega, where she kindly asked us to lodge. 
 The horses we procured at Leon were most 
 miserable animals, but no better were to be had; 
 mine was a perfect Eosinante, and excited peals 
 of laughter whenever I tried to put him into a 
 gallop, from the extraordinary method lie had of 
 kicking out one leg behind, trying apparently 
 to make it do double duty. We passed through 
 a lonely fertile country ; but the roads, being 
 very flat, were in a dreadful state from the heavy 
 rains that had fallen. After passing through 
 several deep places converted into rivers, we ar- 
 rived at Chinandega, completely exhausted with 
 the exertion of urging on our wretched horses, 
 which seemed ready to drop at every step. 
 
 Chinandega is completely surrounded by fruit 
 trees; oranges and mangoes predominate, and 
 there must be lovely rides in the neighbourhood 
 as the roads are level and well kept, for Nicaragua. 
 There is only one English lady in the town, who, 
 poor thing, must be lonely enough ; from her and
 
 30 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 her husband we received every kind attention 
 during our week's stay. 
 
 As no ship was heard of, we determined to 
 proceed by the Gulf of Fonseca to La Union, a 
 far more flitiguing route, but I was not sorry to 
 escape a sea voyage in a wretched sailing vessel, 
 particularly as it gave me an opportunity of 
 seeing the country. 
 
 We now bade adieu to horseback travelling for 
 a time, as the six leagues between Chinandega 
 and Tampisqui, our place of embarkation, were 
 pronounced impassable, even for a mule, and an 
 ox cart was the only alternative. All the old 
 ladies of Nicaragua make use of these primitive 
 vehicles in the rainy season, and really they are 
 well suited for the roads of mud and water, 
 mingled with huge stones, which we had to 
 encounter on our way. No words can describe 
 the awful jolting to which we were victims for the 
 next four hours, plunging down into bogs which 
 fairly buried the wheels, then up again over
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMERICA. 31 
 
 stones which the depth of the water had con- 
 cealed. We were at last too tired even to laugh, 
 and arrived at the river Tampisqui quite worn 
 out. 
 
 We found there our bungo, a large boat covered 
 with an awning of palm leaves and hides, wait- 
 ing for us with its crew of four Indians. The 
 stream where we embarked was most uninterest- 
 ing, being remarkable for nothing but its swarms 
 of sand flies, little venemous creatures far worse 
 than mosquitoes. We breakfasted seated on a 
 log of wood during a furious onslaught of our 
 enemies, and after a wearisome delay of an hour 
 found ourselves in the bungo where we were to 
 pass the night. 
 
 Before sunset we reached the Gulf of Fonseca 
 which is very beautiful, with several picturesque 
 islands scattered over it. We were fortunate in 
 having very fine weather until night, when a 
 slight shower fell, and then our bungo miseries
 
 32 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 commenced, for the Indians who dislike rain as 
 much as any cat, immediately covered the boat 
 with thick hides which excluded every breath of 
 air; I awoke in the night gasping and found 
 Henry in the same condition, so we frantically 
 called out for air to the sleeping Indians who 
 were apparently perfectly indifferent to that 
 necessary of life, and they slowly and reluctantly 
 unfastened the hides. 
 
 How delicious it was, that first breath of pure 
 night air to my parched throat. Henry and I sat 
 out at the stern of the boat till dawn of day when 
 we again laid ourselves down to try to get a little 
 sleep, and the Indians once more bent to their oars, 
 singing their wild melancholy songs, which 
 mingled strangely with my half waking dreams. 
 I felt so ill all the next day that I could scarcely 
 raise my head from the pillow ; the heat was 
 intense and the glare from the sparkling water 
 so intolerable to my aching brain that I did not
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 3;:J 
 
 revive at all until the evening, when the news 
 that we were approaching the port of La Union 
 acted like magic on me. 
 
 The Indians wished to drop anchor for the 
 night some way off the entrance of the harbour, 
 but by the promise of something additional if 
 they proceeded, we at last found ourselves at eight 
 o'clock in the evening at the landing place. 
 There arose a violent wind with dark heavy 
 clouds, which every moment threatened us with 
 a deluge, but we were determined to land, so in 
 the midst of darkness and a driving wind we 
 first set foot on the shores of Salvador. We 
 arrived at the posada just in time to escape 
 the rain, and what a luxury it was to have 
 plenty of space and fresh air, after the horrible 
 bungo. 
 
 The town of La Union is prettily situated, 
 commanding an extensive view of the mountains 
 of Honduras, and the lovely blue Gulf of Fonseca. 
 At the time we were there, the town did not 
 
 D
 
 34 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 possess more than lialf a dozen good liouses, but 
 it lias wonderfully increased during the last 
 few years, and is rapidly becoming one of the 
 busiest and most prosperous towns on the coast. 
 Unfortunately it has a bad name for fevers, 
 which are more fatal on the sea coast than 
 they are inland, a peculiarity of all tropical 
 countries. 
 
 There were two or three English, and about 
 as many Americans, living there when we ar- 
 rived, and they of course found us out at once, 
 for anyone speaking the English language in 
 Central America is looked upon as a Godsend by 
 the poor sons of old England, and still more so 
 by the Americans, who are worse linguists even 
 than the French. 
 
 Mr. Squires, the author of an amusing and 
 clever work on Central America was one of our 
 constant visitors during the two days we were 
 there, and he seemed to forget that we belonged 
 to that hated England which is continually the
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEEICA. 35 
 
 tlieme of his animadversions. English and 
 Americans may abuse each other and quarrel in 
 print, but it is wonderful how all this changes 
 when they meet in a strange country where the 
 dear accents of the English tongue are seldom 
 heard. Petty jealousy and enmities are then 
 forgotten, while they only remember that they 
 descended from the same noble stock. 
 
 After remaining two days to recruit, we pro- 
 cured a couple of horses and three baggage mules 
 and proceeded on our journey. Mr. Squires 
 accompanied us a few miles out of the town, this 
 being a Central American mark of courtesy, and 
 then bade us adieu with many a warning of the 
 terrible roads we should encounter.
 
 36 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The roads were in truth much more hilly and 
 stony than any we had yet passed, and we made 
 in consequence but slow progress. At ahout 
 twelve o'clock we reached a pretty little "village 
 where we stopped to breakfast. The posada and 
 everything about it was remarkably clean, and 
 the owner of it, who was the Alcalde, or magis- 
 trate of the place gave Henry another horse in 
 exchange for the one he brought from La Union, 
 which was a wretched animal — slow and insecure. 
 After resting myself for an hour in the nice
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 37 
 
 clean Iiaramock we proceeded on our journey, 
 much refreshed by the delicious coffee and fresh 
 eggs, two luxuries always obtainable in the 
 poorest houses in Central America. Mr. Squires 
 had warned us of the raud we sliould have to en- 
 counter between this village and San Miguel; 
 but it almost exceeded his description, and at one 
 place in particular I really thought our horses 
 would have sunk altogether. 
 
 It was a wild, desolate-looking plain on the 
 crown of a hill ; myriads of locusts were flying, 
 over it, darkening the air, and leaving a wasted 
 country behind them, for these destructive insects 
 eat up every green leaf they can find; they 
 whizzed past my ears, and flapped against my 
 face in the most disagreeable manner, while my 
 poor horse shook his head and snorted with an- 
 noyance, and I was heartily glad when a turn 
 in the road took us out of their line of fliofht, 
 and we found ourselves in a valley, with a very 
 tolerable road before us, 
 
 195262
 
 38 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMERICA. 
 
 We were so tired of the slow pace at which we 
 had been travelling all day that Henry and I de- 
 termined to take advantage of the comparative 
 smoothness of the roads, and set of at a fast trot 
 which soon left our lazy baggage mules and 
 guides behind us. The two latter were the most 
 disagreeable specimens of the race that we had 
 yet encountered, and it was quite a blessing to 
 lose sight of their sulky faces ; but before long 
 we would gladly have seen them again. 
 
 It was just sunset when we arrived at two or three 
 wayside cottages, where we asked the people how 
 far it yet was to San Miguel, and they told us it 
 Avas only two leagues, " more or less," a very 
 favourite term of theirs, but generally meaning 
 more^ and not less ; also, that it was a good 
 road, so off we started again, thinking that we 
 could easily arrive at our journey's end before 
 nightfall; but we did not know that there was a 
 deep river to ford, and plenty of mud holes on 
 the road we had been told was so good.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 39 
 
 We were riding gaily along, finding the mud 
 every minute getting deeper, when Henry thought 
 we should fare better by striking into a by-path 
 which, like most short cuts, proved a long one 
 in the end, for we had not ridden far when we 
 lost all trace of the high road, and at last came 
 to the disagreeable conclusion that we had lost 
 our way. 
 
 We at length found ourselves in a wild cattle 
 track, with grass growing as high as our horses' 
 heads, and the darkness so intense that we could 
 not see each other a few yards off. Black heavy 
 clouds obscured the sky, and there was that 
 ominous stillness in the air which is always the 
 precursor of a tropical thunder-storm. I had 
 such a horror of our losing ourselves in the 
 wildernesss, that I proposed remaining where we 
 were until daylight, but Henry hit upon a better 
 plan, and that was to turn our horses' heads, 
 and trust to their sagacity for retracing their 
 steps to the main road. To our great relief we
 
 40 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 soon found ourselves in the road we had left, but 
 still our position was far from a pleasant one, for 
 the rain came down in torrents, and the thunder 
 and lightning were terrific. 
 
 My horse was at last so dreadfully alarmed by 
 one awful flash and the deafening peal that suc- 
 ceeded it, that he absolutely refused to go on, 
 whirling round and round in a perfect river of 
 water. I called aloud to my husband, who was 
 leading the way, to stop ; but the rushing rain 
 and the wind completely drowned my voice. 
 Fortunately for me the next brilliant flash, light- 
 ing up the road, he missed me, and immediately 
 returned to my rescue ; but my horse obstinately 
 refused to proceed, and neither spurring nor 
 coaxing having the slightest effect upon him, 
 Henry dismounted, and led both animals by the 
 bridle through a road that Avas one mass of mud 
 and deep water. I cannot describe my joy when 
 Henry exclaimed, "Ah! there is alight; we are 
 coming to the houses that we passed at sunset."
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 41 
 
 For some time, however, the people refused us 
 admittance, imagining, I suppose, that only 
 suspicious characters could be about on such 
 a night, but at last our bad Spanish convinced 
 tbem we were strangers, and they cautiously un- 
 fastened the door. 
 
 It was a wretched little hovel; but a bright 
 wood fire burning in one corner looked delight- 
 fully cheerful after what we had gone through. 
 The people informed us, however, that our mules 
 and men had passed a short time before the rain 
 commenced, and were safely housed in a cottage 
 about half a mile off, so we determined to pro- 
 ceed there at once, and one of the men act- 
 ing as our guide, I re-mounted my dripping 
 horse, Henry still leading him by the rein, and 
 in a short time we arrived at the cottage, where 
 we found our amiable guides comfortably seated 
 before a roaring wood fire, as perfectly indifferent 
 to our fate as could be. I must say I felt indig- 
 nant; and Henry abused them in English most
 
 42 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 heartily, with now and then a Spanish ohjurga- 
 tion to crive force to his words: but thev smiled 
 languidly, looking with a sort of sleepy amuse- 
 ment at Henry's boots as he drew them off; and 
 they were indeed a sight, each being full of 
 water up to the brim. 
 
 The poor people of the cottage were exceed- 
 ingly kind, the old woman giving up her bed to 
 me — a clean and comfortable one — though I had 
 nothing softer to lie upon than the strips of hide 
 covered with an Indian mat, the universal substi- 
 tute for mattresses, an unknown luxury amongst 
 the peasant class. 
 
 As soon as our clothes were dry next morning 
 we started once more, and soon found ourselves 
 on the banks of the river, which we had to cross 
 to get to San Miguel, our next resting-place. 
 We attempted first to go over on horseback, but 
 we found the river so deep that we turned back 
 and crossed by the less romantic, but more com- 
 fortable means of a ferry boat.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 43 
 
 The neigh bourliood of San Miguel was the 
 most uninteresting country we had yet seen, the 
 volcano towerino; above the town beino; the 
 only picturesque object. We arrived at the city 
 at twelve o'clock, just as the sun was beginning 
 to scorch us in a very unpleasant manner, and 
 we were glad to find ourselves at the comfortable 
 house of Senor Sonsa, a Spanish merchant, to 
 whom we had a letter of introduction. 
 
 Senor Sonsa and his family were absent at 
 their country house, but we were welcomed most 
 kindly by his partner, an old Genoese, who 
 placed the whole house at our " dispocision," or 
 service, a courtly phrase universal among the 
 higher orders of Central Americans, and indeed 
 of all Spaniards. 
 
 San Miguel is a pretty, clean little town, the 
 Liverpool of San Salvador, more commerce being 
 carrried on here than in any other town of the 
 State. It holds three or four fairs in the course 
 of the year. The principal one, which takes
 
 44 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 place in November, is attended hy crowds from 
 all the Central American States, the chief deal- 
 ings being in indigo and cochineal. It is con- 
 sidered the most unhealthy town in Salvador, 
 and many yearly fall victims to their love of 
 gain, or the necessities of business, for the fever 
 generally attacks strangers. 
 
 After our adventures by flood and field, it was 
 really pleasant to rest for two days in such com- 
 fortable quarters. The plaza is very cheerful, 
 from the immense number of market women who 
 sit before their stalls from sunrise till eight o'clock 
 at night, talking and laughing incessantly. In 
 these States every article of food excepting groce- 
 ries, is bought in the market, there being neither 
 butchers' nor greengrocers' shops to be seen. 
 
 Piles of tempting fruits and vegetables are 
 brought in by the country people, at the first 
 dawn of day, and from seven till twelve the 
 market is a gay scene, crowded by servants 
 with their many coloured rehosas^ or scarfs,
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTBAL AMERICA. 45 
 
 fluttering about from stall to stall, making their 
 purchases. From twelve to four the market is 
 almost deserted by buyers, but at that hour more 
 fish is fried, and more tortillas made ready for 
 supper. The tortilla is the Indian corncake, 
 the substitute for bread universally used through- 
 out Central America. It is very palatable when 
 quite hot and soaked in butter, but a cold tortilla 
 is one of the heaviest and nastiest things 
 that can be imagined, becoming as tough as 
 leather an hour after it is made. 
 
 The market place looks exceedingly pretty 
 after sunset, when every woman lights her candle 
 at the stall over which she presides, thus form- 
 ing a perfect illumination. 
 
 The rehosa also adds greatly to the beauty of 
 the scene. It is a long scarf, woven by the 
 people of the country, and is made of either 
 cotton or silk in every colour, rich purple and 
 scarlet being the favourites. It is ornamented 
 with a deep fringe at each end, and is most be- 
 coming and graceful, either worn over the head
 
 46 KECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 or slioiilJers. When a number of women are col- 
 lected together they look like a bed of tulips 
 waving in the breeze, their slow, swimming walk 
 as they pass along being the very perfection of 
 grace. 
 
 We witnessed a very impressive sight one day 
 when the procession of the Host passed through 
 the market into the church. It was accompanied 
 by about fifty women, their heads covered by 
 their rehosas, in respect for the holy symbol 
 they Avere following. As the Host was carried 
 past every woman in the crowded market place 
 knelt down, and many of the men, and I could 
 not help being touched by the spirit of venera- 
 tion expressed in every upturned face. 
 
 On the third morning of our stay, I felt suf- 
 ficiently recruited to proceed, so fresh horses were 
 procured, and we bade adieu to our kind enter- 
 tainer. Our road lay through the most beauti- 
 ful country we had yet seen, and as we started 
 fresh we could fully appreciate its beauties. 
 ' A succession of splendid mountains ar.d shaded
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 47 
 
 valleys, and rushing torrents of purest water, 
 made our journey so enchanting that I felt in a 
 dream of delight, and rode on with a heart too 
 full for words, awed by the majesty of the "ever- 
 lasting hills," with their wooded heights and blue 
 volcanic peaks. 
 
 We arrived at the pretty little village of 
 Umanos at about four o'clock, and found the 
 posada a wretched place, but we had a room to 
 ourselves and our mogo (boy) was aparagon,taking 
 all trouble off our hands, and observant of every 
 wish. 
 
 We started next morning at dawn, but this 
 day's journey was not quite so pleasant as that 
 of the day before, the heat being intense, and 
 the roads excessively muddy, after a night of 
 pouring rain. We reached a wayside farm at 
 mid-day, and there rested for two hours ; a lounge 
 in the cool grass hammock and a cup of excellent 
 coffee being very grateful after our hot ride. 
 
 At two o'clock we were again obliged to start
 
 48 RECOLLECTIONS OF CiiNTEAL AMERICA. 
 
 in order to reach the little village of Lempa be- 
 fore nightftill. 
 
 The country became more level every step of 
 the way, and at last on emerging from a 
 melancholy-looking forest, we arrived at sunset 
 at the river Lempa — a rather broad stream, but 
 very turbid and muddy. In the rainy season it 
 is the largest river in the State, and the only 
 one, I believe, navigable for vessels, most of the 
 rivers being nothing more than mountain torrents 
 a few yards in width, shallow and rapid, but so 
 exquisitely clear, that every pebble and rock can 
 be seen at the bottom. Henry said they resem- 
 bled exactly the mountain streams in Scotland, 
 often reminding him of his beloved Spey. 
 
 We crossed the river in a large ferry boat, and 
 soon arrived at the village of Lempa, which was 
 composed of a few scattered huts on the steep 
 bank ; the posada was such a dirty place, so 
 full of pigs, dogs, cocks, and hens, and ill-kept 
 children, that we turned away in disgust, and
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 49 
 
 determined to find some other place to sleep in ; 
 so after wandering about some time, we found a 
 cane shed, occupied by an old woman, whose 
 whole worldly goods seemed to consist of one old 
 bedstead, and we quickly bargained with her for 
 the possession of her property for the night, 
 grateful to find some place where we could at 
 least be quiet. Henry was so hot and exhausted 
 that he went to bathe in the river, but was 
 somewhat disturbed in his enjoyment by seeing 
 an immense alligator within a few yards of him. 
 These animals are fortunately very cowardly, 
 seldom attacking first, though accidents while 
 bathing do occasionally occur. The inhabit- 
 ants of this village were very dirty and dis- 
 agreeable, and I was heartily glad after a 
 sleepless night to mount my horse once more and 
 bid adieu to Lempa with it swarms of dogs, pigs 
 and mosquitoes. 
 
 We again entered upon a most enchanting 
 
 E
 
 50 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 country, the road continually on the ascent ; but 
 so precipitous in some places, that it seemed 
 impossible that any animal but a goat could scale 
 them. The horses, however, of San Salvador 
 are wonderfully sure-footed, and in the most 
 difficult parts I always let my horse pick his 
 own way. The great beauty of this country 
 consists in its verdure, combined with grandeur, 
 lovely brilliant flowers springing out of the bare 
 rocks, and when you reach the summit of a 
 mountain several thousand feet high you find the 
 land as rich and wooded as the smiling valley at 
 its foot. 
 
 After resting for an hour at a pretty wayside 
 posada, surrounded by splendid trees, we again 
 started for San Vicente, which town we reached 
 at sunset. Tt is very beautifully situated at the 
 base of a volcano, which frowns majestically over 
 it. We were most kindly received by the wife 
 of the gentleman to whom we had brought a
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OE CENTRAL AMERICA. 51 
 
 letter, and though he was absent, she welcomed 
 us with true Spanish cordiality — hospitality to 
 strangers being one of the Central American 
 virtues, and as much considered a duty in the 
 far west as it is in the east, so that the best of 
 everything is given to the stranger with a warmth 
 and kindness seldom to be met with in more 
 civilized countries. 
 
 After a good night's rest in a clean comfort- 
 able room, and an excellent breakfast, we started 
 for Cojutepeque, only six leagues off. This little 
 town boasts of one of the best climates in the 
 State, and certainly it is impossible to imagine 
 anything more pure and exhilarating than was the 
 air of the mountains as we approached. We stop- 
 ped to breakfast a second time at a little village, 
 whose beauty made me almost envious of the poor 
 people whose lot had thrown them into such a 
 paradise. The town of Cojutepeque was dis- 
 tinctly visible on the side of a neighbouring
 
 52 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 mountain, gleaming white in the brilliant sun- 
 shine, while as flir as the eye could reach, moun- 
 tains and valleys succeeded one another in end- 
 less variety, and fields of the feathery rice and 
 golden Indian corn, with groups of houses and 
 cocoa-nut trees, gave animation to the scene, 
 the blue mountains stretching far away in 
 the distance, and formed an appropriate back 
 ground. 
 
 After climbing a tremendous hill with natural 
 fountains of the purest water gushing from the 
 rocks, we reached Cojutepeque, having had a 
 very agreeable ride. We were kindly received 
 at the house of the gentleman to whom we had 
 an introduction, and our windows looking out on 
 the Plaza^ we amused ourselves by watching the 
 motley crowd who thronged it from morning till 
 night. We spent a very pleasant day at the 
 coffee plantation of an English gentleman, 
 ntuated close to the town, and for the first
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 53 
 
 time I saw that lovely plant in full bloom 
 with its snow white blossoms and glossy green 
 leaf. 
 
 After a stay of two days, we started for San 
 Salvador, the capital of the State, and reached it 
 at three o'clock in the afternoon.
 
 54 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 How strange were my sensations as we entered 
 San Salvador and thought of the long way we 
 had come without danger or difficulty. I could 
 scarcely believe that our delightful journey was 
 really over, and felt a pang of regret as I dis- 
 mounted from my horse at the house of 
 the gentleman to whom we had brought a 
 letter of introduction. 
 
 The environs of the city are very beautiful, 
 being one mass of luxuriant orange and mango 
 trees, bending beneath their load of fruit, and
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 55 
 
 the cottages of the poor people are remarkably 
 neat and clean, each surrounded by its own 
 beautiful shrubbery of fruit trees. It is strange 
 that the higher classes should prefer living in the 
 city, the consequence of which is there is scarcely 
 one gentleman's house to be seen in this garden of 
 beauty. When we tried to procure a residence 
 in the suburbs the good people of Salvador 
 opened their eyes in astonishment, and told us 
 that no gente decenfe (people of position), ever 
 lived out of the town, so, determined to do at 
 Rome as the Romans do, we contented ourselves 
 with a town house. By the end of a fortnight 
 we had bought the necessary furniture for our 
 new abode; cool yellow Indian mats covered the 
 floors, and the inevitable grass hammock was 
 slung in my bedroom. Like all Central 
 American houses it had a large open court in the 
 centre, with some fine orange trees to shade it, 
 a wide corridor supported by pillars encircled 
 the court like the cloisters of a convent, and on
 
 56 KECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 this our rooms opened with large folding doors, 
 making them delightfully cool. 
 
 We found the climate very pleasant in the 
 dry season, which commences in the month of 
 November, the most charming month of the 
 year in Central America, the rain having only 
 just ceased, and there being no dust, while the 
 foliage is of the most brilliant green, and all the 
 wild flowers are in full bloom, making the 
 country lovely with their gorgeous colors. There 
 is one flower particularly beautiful, of the con- 
 volvulus tribe, but of an immense size and of 
 every color, also a small crimson creeper called 
 Frendas d'amor (chains of love) which runs 
 along the ground, and was a special favorite of 
 mine, but these unfortunately have no perfume. 
 There are, however, wild flowers as sweet smell- 
 ing as any of Europe, it being a great mistake 
 to imagine that all tropical wild flowers are 
 scentless. The country about San Salvador is 
 very beautiful, but the roads are bad, which draw-
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 57 
 
 back to enjoyment is the less tliought of as nearly 
 every one keeps a horse for riding. 
 
 We had not been long settled in our new home 
 before we were invited by a Spanish gentleman 
 to pay a visit to his country estate, about six 
 leagues from the city. We gladly availed our- 
 selves of tlie opportunity of seeing what country 
 life was like in Salvador, so at four o'clock in 
 the morning we started, two good horses being 
 placed at our disposal by our host. We had a 
 charming ride through some lovely scenery, and 
 in a few hours found ourselves at the Cattle 
 Estate. 
 
 A green prairie as smooth as a lake lay 
 stretched before us, encircled by wooded hills. 
 Great taste had been displayed in the selec- 
 tion of a spot whereon to build the house, a 
 long low structure with a broad covered corridor 
 in front, and seated between the pillars there, one 
 might lounge away a lifetime looking at the 
 lovely view. Everything about the house was
 
 58 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 exquisitely clean and neat, a great contrast to 
 most Central American country houses, whicli 
 are generally mere barns, as the owners and their 
 families seldom live in them, leaving a bailiff to 
 attend to their estates, but here, European refine- 
 ment was everywhere visible. 
 
 As T was too fatigued to explore much that 
 day, our host arranged a pretty sight for me in 
 the evening. He sent the vaqueras (horsemen 
 who have the care of the cattle) to summon the 
 animals from every part of the immense estate. 
 About a dozen started in as many different 
 directions, each blowing on his horn the long 
 peculiar note understood by the cattle. This 
 summons had not been sounded more than half 
 an hour, when we saw them slowly wending their 
 way down the hills, beautiful glossy cows with 
 the calves frisking behind, and huge stately bulls 
 who every now and then gave a deep impatient 
 bellow for the salt that they knew awaited them 
 in the enclosure. They are accustomed to have
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 69 
 
 this treat about once a week, and are so passion- 
 ately fond of it that they will come any distance 
 to obtain it, and the fiercest bulls are tamed in 
 this way. It was a curious sight to see them all 
 assembled, an eager crowd of many hundreds, 
 but one bull had such a particularly awful 
 voice that I was glad to be out of his reach. 
 
 At dawn of day I was awakened by the lowing 
 multitude who were again wending their way to 
 their mountain pastures. 
 
 Our host showed us with pride his infant 
 coffee plantation, which looked very flourishing, 
 but it is a plant which requires great care for the 
 first four years, when, if all goes well, it bears 
 its first crop. The coffee of San Salvador is 
 nearly equal to that of Costa Eica, but only 
 enough is cultivated for home consumption, most 
 landed proprietors preferring to employ their 
 capital in sugar, rice, or tobacco, which yield 
 a crop every year. Cotton blooms all the year 
 round, and no doubt might be greatly improved
 
 60 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 in quality, were proper care bestowed upon it, 
 but for want of machinery for the cleaning pro- 
 cess, only a small quantity is planted, and that 
 generally by the poor Indians. 
 
 After spending three most pleasant days at 
 this Hacienda^ we returned to San Salvador, 
 where we found that life in Central America was 
 not without its enjoyments, though we had 
 neither operas, nor concerts, nor balls, as in 
 more civilized lands ; but the early morning 
 gallop through a lovely county, and the moon- 
 lit lounge in the Plaza, where a really good band 
 played every evening, were pleasures that can 
 be enjoyed daily without palling. 
 
 One custom struck us as very peculiar in this 
 state. Everyone, from the President downwards 
 keeps a shop, and no one objects to appear 
 behind his counter and sell you a reel of cotton, 
 the wives and daughters often officiating in the 
 same capacity, and gossipping with friends, with 
 the counter between them, as if they were in
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 61 
 
 their drawing rooms; yet one of these ladies 
 showed me her wardrobe one day, containing no 
 less than twelve splendid velvet dresses, and 
 silks innumerable. 
 
 There are only four classes besides soldiers in 
 Salvador — great shopkeepers, little shopkeepers, 
 servants, and agriculturists ; the latter class 
 are the pure Indians, and generally have their 
 own little piece of land and house on it. The 
 soldiers are all taken from this class, as they are 
 a far braver and finer race of men than the 
 Ladinos^ the mixed Indian and Spanish race, 
 and when efficiently commanded they have been 
 known to fight well. The Ladinos are often 
 very handsome, especially the women, who 
 generally retain the beautiful Spanish figure and 
 graceful walk of their fairer sisters, the features 
 also partaking more of the Spanish than Indian 
 type, but the coarse lank hair, and tawny skin 
 betray their origin. 
 
 Servants, male and female, or very small
 
 62 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 shopkeepers compose this class entirely. There 
 are a few families who boast of a pure Spanish 
 descent, and they are not a little proud of their 
 sangue azul^ hut these are so few they can 
 easily be counted. 
 
 The ladies are much given to gossip and 
 dress, but are kind-hearted and hospitable, and 
 generally good wives and mothers. Their 
 education is very limited indeed, and their 
 only reading consists in translations from French 
 novels ; but they have a great taste for music, 
 and most of them play either the piano or 
 guitar better than is commonly heard in England. 
 They are also capital women of business, and in 
 the absence of their male relations transact all 
 commercial affairs in a way that is astonishing 
 to an English lady. On this account, I suppose, 
 there are far fewer cases of dreadful poverty 
 amongst women than in other countries. The 
 poorest widow will sell her last gown to convert 
 it into goods, with which she opens a tiny shop,
 
 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 63 
 
 and richer brethren giving a helping hand, you 
 will find her perhaps in six months moved into 
 a larger shop, her shelves well filled with every 
 variety of article. 
 
 There are very few foreigners settled in the 
 state ; Spaniards naturally predominate, and, 
 next them, Germans, those universal emigrants, 
 then a few French, and still fewer English. In 
 the town of San Salvador, we had not a single 
 countryman, nor was there a single English book 
 to be seen anywhere. In sheer despair I took 
 to reading Spanish, and soon found that it was 
 the very best method of learning the language 
 rapidly. 
 
 The President is elected every three years, and 
 great is the commotion throughout the state for 
 three months before this event. When we were 
 in Salvador, the office was held by a man who 
 had been a priest, but who had abandoned his 
 clerical duties for some years before he was 
 elected president.
 
 64 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEEICA. 
 
 He was an agreeable man in society, with 
 rather too oily a manner for my taste, but was 
 generally popular in the country, I believe, 
 having been twice called to the head of the 
 state. 
 
 I have been told that if the Eepublic were 
 governed in accordance with the laws, there 
 would not be a happier, a freer, or a more 
 prosperous place in the world; but, unfortun- 
 ately, patriotism is a rare virtue, and justice 
 can be sold there to the highest bidder. The 
 consequence of this is endless anarchy and civil 
 war, if so dignified a title can be given to the 
 pronuncmmentos^ as the constant revolutions are 
 called. But the evil they do to the country is 
 dreadful, each rival faction drawing the poor In- 
 dians from their agricultural pursuits, when their 
 labour is most required, to fight for a cause of 
 which they know nothing, and for which they 
 care less. After a few marches and counter- 
 marches, a few bloodless fights, and a great deal
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 65 
 
 of ruin to commerce and crops, the aiFair is over 
 for the time, and one or other of the rival 
 Presidents gains the daj, with an immense 
 amount oi palaver. After residing three months 
 in Salvador, my husband had occasion to visit 
 the town of Sonsonate, a flourishing little town 
 situated in a lovely valley, six leagues from the 
 sea-port of Acajutla. I accompanied him, and 
 we were so much pleased with the place that we 
 prolonged our visit, and most fortunate was it 
 for us that we did so, for we had not been absent 
 from our home more than a month when the 
 news reached us of the total destruction of San 
 Salvador by a fearful earthquake. 
 
 On the morning of the 16th April the inhabi- 
 tants were alarmed by a severe shock which 
 fortunately came as a warning to many who left 
 their rooms for the open courts and squares, and 
 at half past ten a far severer shock followed, only 
 lasting ten seconds, but so tremendous was the 
 convulsion that scarcely a building was left
 
 6Q RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 standing. The houses being all built of adobes 
 (baked earth), the whole air was impregnated 
 with a suffocating dust, and to add to the horrors 
 of the scene many young children were 
 killed by this alone. The fine cathedral whose 
 massive walls, three feet thick, had stood so many 
 eartli quakes, was now a ruin, and most of the 
 churches and the handsome new college met with 
 a similar fate. 
 
 Were I to relate all the tales of horror and 
 misery which I heard, I should fill pages. Hus- 
 bands seeking their wives, mothers their children, 
 many rushing about the streets confessing their 
 sins aloud, whilst priests raised the cross on high 
 saying the day of judgment was come, and several 
 people died in the streets who had been sick or 
 dying when the earthquake took place. When 
 day dawned on this scene of ruin and desolation 
 no means were left untried to save the figure of 
 the Patron Saint of San Salvador, which was 
 unfortunately buried beneath the ruins of the
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 67 
 
 cathedral. In these eflforts the Bishop joined 
 and they had the satisfaction of digging out 
 the figure at hist, ahnost uninjured, and it 
 was immediately carried off to Cojutepeque 
 attended by the Bishop and a long procession of 
 priests. 
 
 The loss of property was immense, many being 
 rendered penniless who were rich the day before. 
 Every one fled, except robbers and those who 
 valued their property more than their lives, and 
 hoped to save the wreck of their fortunes by 
 digging beneath the ruins; but even these few 
 were soon obliged to leave the scene of desolation, 
 as a pestilence broke out caused by the number 
 of dead bodies left unburied. The shocks of 
 earthquake continued without intermission for 
 many days, but gradually subsided, when the 
 frightened natives returned to rebuild their city, 
 for so great is the infatuation of the people of San 
 Salvador, that all attempts to induce them to 
 
 B- 2
 
 68 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 move the capital to some more favoured spot are 
 vain. Their argument on this occasion was that 
 as San Salvador had been so utterly destroyed, 
 it was not probable such another earthquake 
 would occur for a century, that being about the 
 time that had elapsed since the last destruction 
 of it. 
 
 This was a melancholy year for Central 
 America, for after the earthquake came a famine, 
 the corn crops being destroyed by locusts that 
 came in millions, devouring every green leaf, 
 every blade of corn, causing a fearful amount of 
 misery to the poor people. In the neighbour- 
 hood of San Salvador a revolution was nearly 
 breaking out because the inhabitants of Cojute- 
 peque refused to deliver up the figure of the 
 Patron Saint which had been placed there for 
 safety in the hour of adversity. The images 
 that these poor Indians love so devoutly, are 
 •the most hideous cadaverous looking figures 
 imaginable, and when, on the festival of Corpus
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 69 
 
 Christi, they are carried in procession through the 
 streets, the effect produced on the mind is almost 
 painful. 
 
 The kitchens in Central America are very pri- 
 mitive, being nothing more than a portion of the 
 corridor, a low brick wall about a yard wide, run- 
 ning the whole length of it, and forming the kitchen 
 range : circles of round rough stones are placed 
 at intervals along this wall, and within these 
 circles the wood fires are kindled, from which 
 proceed such excellent dinners of fish, flesh, and 
 fowl, to say nothing of marvellous sweet dishes, 
 in which the native cooks stand unrivalled. 
 
 A small hole in the roof lets out the smoke, 
 which is very trifling, from a wood fire, and the 
 kitchen being unenclosed all round, there is little 
 need even for that. 
 
 The tortillias and chocolate for family con- 
 sumption are generally made at home, though 
 they can be procured in the market, if preferred. 
 A servant, called a moliendera^ is the one upon
 
 70 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTKAL AMEEICA. 
 
 whom these duties devolve. She is also the 
 water carrier, and is generally an Indian by 
 birth, retaining her native costume, the dark 
 blue cotton shirt of scanty dimensions, and 
 white linen rehosa^ or scarf. 
 
 The upper servants are invariably taken from 
 the ladino class, and are on the whole, honest, 
 kind-hearted, and capable of strong attachment 
 to their masters. The women are excellent 
 cooks and nurses, and the men good grooms, 
 thoroughly understanding the management of 
 horses, and their treatment when sick. 
 
 They will not, however, do one half the work 
 that an European will — a family of two persons re- 
 quiring at least four servants to ensure anything 
 like comfort. 
 
 The women servants always dress in the 
 tasteful nagua costume — a loose white chemisette, 
 cut low in the neck and sleeves, with the full 
 furbelowed skirt of coloured cotton or muslin. 
 Spangles do not seem to be worn in Salvador,
 
 -KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMERICA. 71 
 
 though SO frequently seen in the state of 
 Nicaragua. 
 
 They wear no shoes, but their small brown 
 feet are so pretty that the eye soon gets accus- 
 tomed to the omission. If, by any chance, a 
 servant is seen in shoes, she is sure to be utterly 
 idle and worthless. She gives herself fine-lady 
 airs, and thinks that a person wearing shoes has 
 no necessity to work. 
 
 When I was told this I laughed and did not 
 believe it, but I found afterwards from experi- 
 ence that it was nothing but the simple truth. 
 
 It is impossible for any description to do 
 justice to the size and beauty of the trees 
 throughout the state of Salvador. The tree 
 cotton is one of the most beautiful, growing to 
 an enormous size, and its feathery yellow 
 blossom is very graceful. 
 
 The soft, downy fibre of this pod is often 
 used for mattresses, and it makes as soft a bed 
 as feathers.
 
 72 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 The flowering trees are also wonderfully 
 beautiful, particularly one, which I used to call 
 the golden tree, never being able to remember its 
 real name. It grows to the size of the oak, and 
 its branches become loaded with the brightest 
 yellow, bell-shaped blossoms, before a single 
 green leaf appears. 
 
 When these fade, the foliage bursts out, and 
 lasts until the following spring, when it again 
 gives place to the glowing flowers. 
 
 This tree can be seen an immense distance ofi", 
 and forms a striking and beautiful object amongst 
 the dark green foliage of the orange and mango 
 trees. The tree of the Jlor de pascua is almost 
 equally lovely ; it blooms at Christmas and 
 Easter, hence its name. 
 
 The flowers are of two sorts, deep crimson and 
 white, streaked here and there with pink. They 
 are also very fragrant, which adds another charm 
 to their beauty; they are much used for the 
 religious fiestas.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 73 
 
 The forests are full of magnificent cedar and 
 balsam trees, and tlie lovely creeper, vanilla, 
 grows in wild profusion everywhere. The 
 former wood is so plentiful that all the com- 
 monest furniture is made of it, being far cheaper 
 than plain deal in England. 
 
 The balsam trade is entirely in the hands of 
 the Indians, and they are exceedingly jealous of 
 any interlopers, and will only deal with a few 
 favoured merchants. 
 
 Deep incisions are made in the trunk of the 
 tree, and yards of cotton cloth wound round it, 
 while the tree is " sweating," as the expression 
 is. The balsam is then extracted from the 
 cloths, when the latter are thoroughly saturated, 
 bottled in stone jars, and brought into the towns 
 for sale. I believe it is a very costly article. 
 
 There is also a gum tree, which undergoes the 
 same process, that is, incisions are made in the 
 bark, from which exudes a medical gum, resem- 
 bling gum Arabic in appearance, but with
 
 74 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 rather a disagreeable taste. It is considered 
 very beneficial for coughs. 
 
 The country abounds with medicinal plants, 
 almost growing wild— castor oil, senna, rhubarb, 
 Peruvian bark, and many others. There is one 
 kind of creeper famous for the cure of snake 
 bites. The bark of it is soaked in any kind of 
 spirit, and a small quantity of that is said to be 
 an infallible cure, if taken immediately after 
 the wound is inflicted. Fidgetty people, just 
 arriving in this country, generally keep a bottle 
 of it in readiness, but if the country is infested 
 with snakes, as some people try to make out, 
 they keep wonderfully out of sight. I never 
 came across one the whole time I was in Salvador, 
 and never heard of anyone dying from the bite 
 of one. 
 
 Insects are numerous, and some very venom- 
 ous ; but I found a good use of the broom could 
 always keep them under. Beds should always, 
 in the tropics, stand in the middle of the room,
 
 EECOLLECTIOKS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 75 
 
 and boxes be moved from their position every 
 day. 
 
 When we first moved into our house in Son- 
 sonate, another town of Salvador, we found it 
 much infested with centipedes, scorpions, and 
 venomous spiders, but attributed it solely to 
 want of care in our predecessors, and before a 
 month was passed were quite free of the nuisance, 
 but not before I had received a bite in one of 
 my fingers from some unknown enemy, who had 
 attacked me when I was asleep. 
 
 I sufiered dreadfully with it, my whole hand 
 being swollen, and the pain extending up to the 
 shoulder, accompanied by a great deal of fever ; 
 yet the bite was not bigger than a pin's point. 
 
 1 attributed it to a very beautiful little 
 crimson spider, called mate frayle, known to be 
 one of the most venomous species, there being 
 a perfect colony of them in the outside corridor. 
 
 They derive their name from a legend told of 
 one of their ancestors, who wove his bed in a
 
 76 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 monastery, and killed, by his bite, one of the 
 holiest of the friars. They are held, in con- 
 sequence, in especial fear, and hated by the 
 natives. 
 
 I was also roused from my sleep one night by 
 a rustling in the room, and saw, to my horror, 
 a huge spider emerging from beneath my ward- 
 robe, his clawed feet making as much noise on 
 the matted floor as a crab's; but fortunately 
 these tarantalas are rarely seen in town houses, 
 and a strict regard to cleanliness invariably 
 routs every species of insect.
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 77 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The country between San Salvador and Sonso- 
 nate is very beautiful; a wild deep gully, called 
 the Guarramal, is particularly striking, its steep 
 sides being fringed with the tree fern, a most 
 rare and lovely tree. The road down to this 
 gully is even awfully grand — a fearful precipice 
 of nearly a thousand feet being on one side of the 
 narrow pathway, while a perpendicular wall rises 
 on the other. It seems as if some terrific earth- 
 quake had rent asunder the mountain, for piles 
 of huge stones form the bottom of the gully.
 
 7& RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 amongst which a stream forces its noisy way, in 
 some parts quite deep, in others barely wetting 
 the horses' feet. On this mountain stands a tree 
 of the most extraordinary size and beauty. I 
 believe it is called a cedro^ and is indigenous to 
 the country. It seemed to me that I was several 
 minutes walking round the mighty trunk ; but 
 as I unfortunately cannot give its dimensions 
 I will only speak of the impression left on my 
 mind being that I occupied that time. Human 
 
 beings walking or sitting in the cool green shade 
 of its widely-extended branches, look like ants, 
 and the senses become oppressed with the 
 grandeur of this giant tree, which must be seen 
 to be believed in. Never can I forget the im- 
 pression the fii'st sight of it made on my mind. 
 I felt breathless with surprise and awe. 
 
 Sonsonate, meaning in the Indian language 
 " the city of a thousand streams," is a prettily- 
 situated town, but excessively hot, from being 
 completely walled in by high mountains on every
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 79 
 
 side, except that towards the sea. There is a 
 good carriage road, of six leagues, down to 
 Acajutla, which, in commercial importance, 
 ranks next to La Union. The valley is most 
 fertile, being a mass of orange, mango, and 
 cocoa-nut trees, the latter exceedingly beautiful, 
 towering above the others with their fan-like 
 tops. 
 
 The society is the pleasantest in all the state, 
 from the number of foreigners settled there, and 
 its vicinity to the seaport gives a life and 
 animation to the place, which is not to be met 
 with in more inland toAvns. The port road is 
 the fashionable promenade of an evening, and on 
 moonlight nights especially, it is crowded with 
 seiloritas taking their stately lounge, and gentle- 
 men showing off their excellent horsemanship 
 before them. 
 
 The Central Americans, generally, are splendid 
 riders, seeming literally part of the animal on 
 which they are mounted. The races are held on
 
 80 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 St. John's day, the 24th of June, and also on 
 St. Peter's, on the port road, and the intense 
 passion for horsemanship which reigns in every 
 heart is then apparent. As nearly every man, 
 be he rich or poor, possesses a horse, the crowd 
 of equestrians is something wonderful, and it is 
 dangerous on certain occasions for any woman to 
 walk in the narrow streets, owing to the troops of 
 horsemen riding, where the width will admit of it, 
 twelve abreast, and dashing round the corners at 
 a mad rate, utterly regardless of whom they may 
 knock down. 
 
 A favourite amusement is riding abreast, arm- 
 in-arm, at the most furious speed, then suddenly 
 halting their horses. The favourite feat of all, 
 however, is that of carrying off the head of a live 
 duck slung upon a pole. The poor creature's 
 neck is well greased, and each horseman in turn 
 tries to wrench off its head, as he passes at full 
 gallop. Another exploit, requiring really good 
 horsemanship, is the picking up from the ground
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 81 
 
 some small article, while the horse is put to his 
 utmost speed. 
 
 I have often stood for hours at a window 
 watching all this fearless horsemaaship with 
 delight, and wondering how men who can ride 
 so well can fight so badly. The races and the 
 religious festivals are about the only amusements 
 the lower classes have. The latter are kept up 
 with great solemnity, particularly in Passion- 
 week, when there are processions nearly every 
 day ; but that on Good Friday is really worth 
 seeing, if only for the adornment of the streets. 
 Every person is expected to " make a carpet," 
 as it is called, in front of his house, wherever 
 the procession passes. Brilliant flowers, laid out 
 in squares and patterns, are much used; but 
 coloured shavings, rice, and even cofiee-grounds 
 are brought into request. The effect of a long 
 street, all laid over with these gay " carpets," is 
 exceedingly pretty and curious. Crosses formed 
 of the white datura are also frequent, filling the
 
 82 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 air witli their exquisite perfume. The most im- 
 pressive sight, however, is the midnight proces- 
 sion, w^hen hundreds of men and women, each 
 with a lighted wax candle, proceed in two lines 
 down all the principal streets. Not a word is 
 uttered, and the solemn procession winds along, 
 like a huge fiery snake, till lost in the distance. 
 The ladies have one procession all to themselves, 
 no man being allowed to join them. The consump- 
 tion of wax must be something enormous during 
 this time, for the poorest save a trifle to buy their 
 tapers'.' ■ The depth of religious feeling amongst 
 the poorer orders seems very great, if the outward 
 seriousness of their devotion be any criterion. 
 The whole of Passion-week the streets are crowded 
 with processions of men and women, praying 
 aloud, and openly bewailing their sins, one old 
 woman, with a a particularly high, cracked 
 voice, generally commencing the recitative, while 
 the others follow her lead; but I must say 
 amongst these devotees the women predominate.-
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 83 
 
 When the cholera broke out in 1857, the same 
 marks of devotion were shown, men and women, 
 and even little children, carrying huge wooden 
 crosses through the streets, and praying aloud. 
 
 The power the priests possess over the minds 
 of the Indians is wonderful. In the most remote 
 districts their word is law, and a pass from a 
 priest ensures a stranger a welcome wherever he 
 may go. There can be no doubt that the 
 Roman Catholic missionaries have had far 
 greater success in Christianizing the Indians in 
 Central and South America, than our Protestant 
 missionaries have had in most parts of the 
 world. Perhaps more care was taken originally 
 in sending out really clever and eloquent men, 
 perhaps the ceremonies and practices of the 
 Roman Catholic Church are more suited to the 
 savage than those of our more simple worship. 
 
 In the large Indian population of central 
 America there are few tribes that are not 
 apparently sincere and devout Eoman Catholics. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 The inhabitants of Salvador are a far superior 
 race to their neighbours in Mexico, travellers 
 being able to traverse the whole of the state with 
 little fear of robbery or violence of any kind. 
 The Indians of the pura raga are exceedingly 
 honest, and have a great respect, and even 
 liking for any foreigners, except a Spaniard, — 
 there the old animosity still prevails. The 
 Indians were the only class really benefited by 
 the Declaration of Independence of Spain, their 
 condition before that event being then but little 
 better than that of slaves ; in fact, the principal 
 landowners amongst the Spaniards did possess 
 many slaves, but now any Indian may buy his 
 patch of ground sufficient to raise his Indian 
 corn and plantains, with which he is content. 
 Many of the most fertile lands in the country 
 belong to the Indian communities, not a foot of 
 -which can be sold without the consent of their 
 head man. 
 
 Two leagues from Sonsonate, is the large
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 85 
 
 Indian town of Isalco, said to contain a popula- 
 tion of sixty thousand. It is charmingly situated 
 on the brow of a hill, and is considered exceedingly 
 healthy and much cooler than Sonsonate. We 
 resided there for three months for the recovery of 
 my health, during which time I had an opportunity 
 of seeing much of the Indian character, which 
 raised it infinitely higher in my estimation than 
 that of the Ladinos, for with all their ignorance 
 and superstition, they are moral, honest, and 
 industrious, which cannot be said of the mixed 
 race. 
 
 Our house was situated in a green plaza^ 
 shaded by two magnificent trees, while the 
 smoking volcano of Isalco, seemed nearly to 
 overshadow the town, being within six miles of 
 of it. The plaza contained the ruins of the 
 fii'st cliurch that the Spaniards built in the 
 State of Salvador, and the bells are very beauti- 
 ful, being a royal gift from King Philip himself. 
 This fact is engraved on the largest of the bells,
 
 ,86 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 "wtich are hung in a small belfry of modern con- 
 struction apart from tlie church. The latter was 
 ruined a great many years ago by one of the 
 numerous earthquakes, and nothing but the bare 
 "brick walls remain, with here and there a window 
 filled with tangled creepers and ferns. 
 
 The great Fair of Isalco occurred during 
 our stay there. It is held in the ]plaza^ and 
 crowds come from every part of the State to 
 buy and sell, and amuse themselves, but it is 
 principally an \n^mn fiesta^ the whites being but 
 a sprinkling amongst the many thousands assem- 
 bled. The great event of the day is a kind of 
 descriptive or dramatic dance, which is curious 
 on account of its having been annually performed 
 by the Indians ever since the Spanish conquest. 
 On the occasion on which I saw it the dancers 
 or actors consisted of a party of twelve Indians, 
 six of whom, intended to represent the Spanish 
 Conquerors, were dressed in long blue tail coats, 
 with red collars and cuffs, and enormous cocked
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 87 
 
 hats, and as their feet were shoeless and stock- 
 ingless, the effect was droll enough. 
 
 The other six were dressed in fanciful costumes, 
 with gaudy feathers in their heads and in their 
 hands, the latter being the only weapons with 
 which they were provided to resist the formidable 
 swords carried by their opponents. They com- 
 menced a slow, measured dance, after which the 
 leader of the Spanish host stepped forward and 
 informed the Indians that he intended to take 
 possession of their country in the name of Charles 
 y. Then the Indian king replied, or ought to 
 have done so, but, being on that occasion in- 
 toxicated, his Majesty's answer was perfectly 
 unintelligible. He was a gigantic man, and the 
 painful efforts he made to keep himself from fall- 
 ing in the war dance did not add to the dignity 
 of his appearance. 
 
 The manner in which the Indians recite this 
 play is irresistibly ludicrous, being a species of 
 sing-song intoning, delivered with a solemnity of
 
 88 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 face wliicli makes their ridiculous costumes still 
 more absurd. 
 
 The Indians, at last, after much palaver, ac- 
 knowledged themselves conquered, and the aifair 
 ended in an amicable dance, in which the poor 
 king, after losing his crown, nearly lost his 
 balance. 
 
 Our life in Sonsonate was varied by an occa- 
 sional trip to Acajutta, but as all seaside places 
 are unhealthy in the tropics, oui.* stay was never 
 prolonged beyond two or three days. It is a 
 poor little place, of a few scattered houses, but 
 the sea is magnificent, being an open roadstead. 
 A foreigner at Sonsonate has erected a good mole, 
 a gi'eat boon to all engaged in commerce, as before 
 that their goods were frequently damaged coming 
 ashore in the surf boats. A steamer belonging 
 to the Panama Railway Company calls once a 
 month at all the principal ports of Guatemala, 
 Salvador, Costa Eica, and Nicaragua, and the 
 commerce of Central America has increased
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 89 
 
 wonderfully since she commenced her trijis. It 
 is also a great convenience to passengers for 
 Europe, as a week's voyage in a most comfort- 
 able steamer takes them to Panama, instead of 
 their having to undergo the fatigue of a long 
 land journey to Belize over the most fearful 
 roads. Acajutta is famous for its beautiful shells, 
 out of which the most lovely flowers are made. 
 There is one part of the coast called the " beach 
 of flowers," and literally the ground seems strewn 
 with the petals of roses ; they are, however, of all 
 colours, and so exquisitely fine and transparently 
 thin that it is wonderful how any escape the 
 violence of the waves. The making of shell 
 flowers is one of the accomplishments of the 
 ladies of Sonsonate, and great taste is displayed 
 in the arrangement of the bouquets. The roses 
 are especially natural, the tints of red and yellow 
 being precisely those of the real flower. 
 
 An occasional man-of-war, either French or 
 English (generally the former), sometimes finds
 
 90 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 her way as far as Acajutta, when great is the 
 excitement and pleasure amongst the senoritas, 
 as their arrival is generally followed by a little 
 gaiety. These visits are, however, few and far 
 between. Captains seldom caring to leave the 
 delights of Valparaiso for the uncivilized parts 
 of Central America. 
 
 We once spent a delightful ten days in the 
 country house of a lady of our acquaintance, and 
 as it was rather different from country life in 
 England, I will describe it. In the first place 
 the house was not quite finished, being without 
 a roof, but as it was the dry season this was con- 
 sidered of little consequence, though the effect was 
 certainly peculiar — looking up into the star-lit 
 sky — to one not accustomed to sleep in the open 
 air. The ladies of the party all slept in one large 
 room, while the gentlemen slung their ham- 
 mocks in the outer corridors. At dawn of day 
 we were all awake, and sallied forth to the beau- 
 tiful rapid river which runs through the estate,
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 91 
 
 and there enjoyed the luxury of a bath, and 
 what a luxury it is in that burning climate ! 
 One feels as if one could live for ever in the 
 clear, cold water, though hunger at last drives 
 one home to breakfast — if such a term can be 
 applied to the luxurious dejeuner a la fourchette 
 which was always awaiting us. 
 
 After resting an hour or two in the heat of 
 the day, the gentlemen generally took their guns 
 and dived into the neighbourhood in search of 
 game, whilst the ladies lounged, eat fruit, and 
 chatted until it was time for bath the second, 
 after which we returned home to meet the 
 gentlemen whose vehement popping off of guns 
 heralded their approach, and who generally 
 had that crest-fallen appearance which belongs 
 to unsuccessful sportsmen, for though the pheas- 
 ants are so near that their cry is distinctly 
 heard, it is almost impossible to get at them from 
 the great growth of underwood. After dinner,
 
 92 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 games, singing, and delightful rambles in the 
 moonlight ended the pleasant day. 
 
 There is an ease, gaiety, and simplicity 
 about these country visits in Central America 
 peculiarly refreshing; there is no fine dressing 
 amongst the ladies, nor formality of any kind; 
 for a time all seem to become as gay and light- 
 hearted as children in the full enjoyment of a 
 holiday, and perhaps the genial climate tends 
 much to this happy frame of mind. 
 
 This assemblage of friends was in honour of 
 a rice machine^ which had just arrived from 
 England ; an English mechanic had been 
 employed in making a water-wheel by which it 
 was turned, and the neatness and expedition 
 with which it was completed surprised the slow 
 native carpenters not a little. Machinery is 
 beginning to be introduced into Salvador, and 
 would be more so if there were more clever 
 mechanics settled in the country ; but people
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 93 
 
 are afraid of spending much in machines when 
 there is no one capable of repairing them when 
 out of order. I am sure if it were more known 
 many English mechanics would flock to Salvador, 
 where their services are so well paid, and living 
 is so reasonable. The mechanic I have just 
 mentioned, and his brother, had not been 
 settled in Sonsonate many months before their 
 hands were full of work, and broadcloth, gold 
 chains, and prancing steeds soon showed how 
 well they were remunerated. Any clever, hard- 
 working mechanic, may rapidly make money in 
 Salvador, if he only avoids drinking ; but if he 
 indulges in that fatal vice, fever holds him as 
 her prey, and all his earnings go to pay doctor's 
 bills, which, throughout Central America, are 
 exorbitant. 
 
 The climate of Salvador is an exceedingly 
 healthy one for the tropics, the fevers even 
 amongst Europeans being seldom fatal, and a 
 man who is temperate in his habits has, perhaps,
 
 94 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 as fair a chance of living to a good old age as he 
 has in Europe. 
 
 During an eight years' residence, we were 
 only once visited by cholera, and other epidemics 
 are exceedingly rare. There is a great varia- 
 tion of climate in Salvador on account of the 
 height of its mountain ranges, and this conduces 
 greatly to its health — for the fever-stricken 
 invalid may, in half a day's journey, be trans- 
 ported to a climate like the South of France, in 
 fact cooler, as oranges even will not thrive in the 
 open air, and ice is to be seen on the roads in 
 December.
 
 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEKICA. 95 
 
 CHAPTER yi. 
 
 My healtli occasionally obliged me to leave 
 Sonsonate, and I once spent a delightful month 
 in a mountain Hacienda. It was almost on a 
 level -with the neighbouring volcano of Isalco, 
 and the air was the purest and most exhilarating 
 I ever breathed. We were literally in the clouds, 
 or rather above them, though still higher peaks 
 rose on every side of us. This is the region 
 of wheat and other European products, the best 
 vegetables being grown on this mountain 
 summit. Even the Indians here have a riQh.
 
 96 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 colour on their swarthy cheeks, while the few 
 whites look like Europeans, so fresh and blojm- 
 ing in their appearance. Our host and his 
 aimable wife were exceedingly kind, and wel- 
 comed us with that ease and courtesy belonging 
 to all of Spanish race ; their best rooms were 
 given up to us, and everything done to make us 
 thoroughly at home. 
 
 Part of the large estate lay through a lovely 
 green prairie, dotted here and there with high 
 trees, and a morning gallop across this plain was 
 the most exhilarating thing I ever felt. Horses 
 seem to feel the same pleasure as their riders in 
 these lovely grassy plains, requiring no spur to 
 urge them on, while they snuff up the fresh air 
 and shake their manes with delight. The cows 
 also must lead a happy life in these evergreen 
 pastures, and I have never tasted such milk and 
 butter as they produce ; the impunity with 
 which the lady of the domain went amongst her 
 horned favourites was surprising to me, and one
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 97 
 
 day we were actually prevented crossing over a 
 stile by a crowd of these creatures hemming us 
 in, some intrusive cows putting their muzzles 
 into her hand in search of the salt with which 
 she often regaled them. 
 
 A great eruption of the volcano of Isalco 
 occurred while we were staying at this Hacienda^ 
 and as we were distinctly on a line with it, we 
 had the full benefit of the ashes. 
 
 We were awakened in the night by the strong 
 and suffocating smell of sulphur, and on opening 
 the outer door found a thick shower of ashes 
 falling continuously, and silently. It looked 
 precisely like a snow storm turned black. As 
 day dawned a really awful sight presented itself, 
 the whole country being black with ashes, not a 
 green leaf to be seen, and the sky enveloped 
 in a dull lurid fog through which the sun 
 in vain tried to pierce. Our throats were much 
 affected by the sulphur; and we began seriously 
 to consider whether the country was about to
 
 98 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 become a second Pompeii, but fear was almost 
 swallowed up in the interest of the wonderful 
 scene before us. 
 
 For three days the eruption lasted, not a 
 drop of rain falling, though it was the rainy 
 season, and large forest trees were broken by the 
 enormous weight of ashes falling on them, their 
 branches strewing the roads for miles. One 
 forest especially looked as if blackened and half 
 consumed by fire, and every blade of grass was 
 withered and scorched up. The flourishing 
 crops were utterly ruined, the cattle all deserted 
 the desolate region that had so lately yielded 
 them such sweet pasturage, and had to traverse 
 eighteen miles before they emerged from the 
 ashes. It was discovered afterwards that an 
 enormous new crater had opened in the side of 
 the volcano. Sonsonate and all the lowlands had 
 escaped the ashes, but the lava flowed within a 
 mile of the townoflsalco to the great trepidation 
 of the inhabitants.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 99 
 
 A mountain in front of the volcano un- 
 fortunately shut out our view of the eruption, 
 which our friends in Sonsonate told us was the 
 most magnificent that had ever been remem- 
 bered there. 
 
 Central America is indeed a wonderful 
 country for volcanoes. The state of Salvador 
 alone has no less than half a dozen, some active, 
 some apparently extinct, and strange to say the 
 Spaniards have invariably chosen as a site for 
 their towns the immediate vicinity of a volcano, 
 perhaps on account of the great fertility of the 
 adjacent country. Nicaragua and Guatemala 
 are equally intersected with volcanoes, and sub- 
 ject in consequence to fearful earthquakes, so 
 that I do not wonder that some writer has 
 imagined the whole of Central America to be 
 nothing but a thin crust of earth over subter- 
 ranean fires. 
 
 A few leagues from Sonsonate a curious sight 
 
 H 2
 
 100 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 is to be seen ; pools of boiling water hissing up 
 from the ]iaked rock, and steam issuing from 
 every crack, the place being aptly called by the 
 natives the Infernillos. Large craters 
 mysteriously converted into lakes are another 
 source of interest to the traveller, and always 
 abound with wild fowl, much sought after 
 by sportsmen. These waters are generally tepid, 
 and delicious for bathing purposes, and it is im- 
 possible to describe the beauty of these inland 
 lakes, surrounded by the wooded hills crowned 
 with blue volcanic peaks. 
 
 It was a subject of endless astonishment to me 
 to find how few travellers cared to bend their 
 steps towards these lovely regions abounding 
 with everything grand and beautiful in nature; 
 but I trust the monthly steamers from Panama 
 now established, may induce many lovers of the 
 glorious works of God to visit the interior of 
 Central America, so little known and so needlessly 
 feared on account of its supposed bad climate.
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 101 
 
 What most strikes one on arriving from 
 Europe is the absence of all extreme poverty; 
 there are a few beggars certainly who come 
 regularly every Saturday for their weekly dole, 
 but they are as nothing in proportion to the 
 population. There are no almshouses, and very 
 few charitable institutions, yet the eye is not 
 offended, as it is in the south of Europe, by 
 swarms of loathsome objects, afflicted with every 
 disease under the sun, nor do you see the gaunt 
 forms and starving faces that meet you too often 
 in every large town in England. The few 
 beggars seem a happy contented set; gaining 
 sufficient on the Saturday to last them for 
 the week, during which they hide themselves 
 away, who knows where? but at all events 
 there is no such thing as begging in the 
 streets. 
 
 The system of charity is very simple; the 
 poorest giving their mite to the Saturday beggars, 
 some giving money, others tortillias, cocoa beans,
 
 102 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 handfuls of rice, cigars, and reels of cotton. All 
 sorts of sundries are to be found in the beggar's 
 basket, and these articles they exchange for food 
 or money as they please ; the quartillio givers of 
 course, have the largest amount of blessings 
 showered upon them. The parish priests are 
 also indefatigable in their visits to the poor 
 and the sick, which is no doubt one of the 
 sources of their great influence throughout the 
 country; whatever faults they may have, want 
 of charity is not one of them ; at all hours and 
 in all weathers they are ready to mount their 
 mules and visit and comfort the sick and the 
 afflicted. 
 
 In the country districts the parish priest has 
 his table nearly supplied by his grateful parish- 
 ioners, who bring baskets of eggs, fowls, and 
 other produce of their little farms, quite as a 
 matter of course, and lucky for the priests that 
 it is so, for their pay is often so miserable as to 
 be barely sufficient to keep body and soul
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 103 
 
 together, yet an amount of work is expected from 
 them that would stagger some of our luxurious 
 • clergy in Europe. 
 
 Some of the customs of the Indians are very 
 peculiar; the girls are generally affianced when 
 quite children to boys but little older than them- 
 selves, when they leave the home of their own 
 parents, and go to live with their future father- 
 in-law, where they are considered and treated as 
 daughters from that time ; at the age of fourteen 
 they are regarded as old enough to marry, but 
 still continue to live with their husbands' family, 
 and the husband is seldom more than eighteen 
 when he takes upon himself the care of a family^ 
 yet these early marriages are said in most cases 
 to turn out very happily, the Indian wives being 
 noted for their morality and good conduct, a 
 thing which cannot be said of the Ladinos. 
 
 The Indian bridegroom makes his wife's 
 trousseau himself, the women, strange to say, 
 being entirely ignorant of needlework, but cer-
 
 104 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 tainly the devoted swain has not much to do for his 
 lady love, the only garment being a long straight 
 piece of cotton cloth without a seam, which is 
 fastened round the waist by a crimson sash, while 
 a snow wliite rehosa of very fine material is 
 folded over the breast. The man's costume is 
 very pretty, consisting generally of a white 
 jacket, most tastefully embroidered down the 
 back in coloured wool or cotton, with very loose 
 white trousers, reaching only to the knee, and a 
 straw hat nearly as wide as an umbrella. Most 
 of them have fine, muscular figures, with honest, 
 good tempered faces of decidedly Eastern type. 
 The woman are generally inferior in personal 
 appearance, but have the sweetest voices in the 
 world. The men have a great deal of the impertur- 
 bability of the North American Indian, but are 
 a gentler and less warlike race, caring for no- 
 thing but the cultivation of their lands and their 
 evening lounge in the hammock. They are a 
 most provoking people if you are in a hurry, as
 
 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 105 
 
 nothing will induce them to move out of their 
 slow, measured stride, and they look upon any 
 ebullition of impatience on your part with the 
 smiling pity that we give to an angry child. 
 
 The first start on a journey is very trying 
 to a new comer; the loading of the mules and 
 of the men's backs takes always treble the time 
 necessary, and it is in vain you point to the 
 rising sun and say you wish to escape his rays; 
 the Indian will quietly adjust and re-adjust his 
 load entirely to his satisfaction before he will 
 move, and many a precious hour of coolness is 
 lost by his dreadful inertness, though once fairly 
 started, he will trudge on for leagues with un- 
 tiring energy. 
 
 The way in which young children travel in 
 this country over the roughest roads is very in- 
 genious. A sheet is knotted round the neck of 
 the horseman, in order to form a hammock, a 
 small pillow is placed inside, and the babe lies 
 as comfortably as if in its own cradle, the jolting
 
 106 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 of the horse's movement being nearly unfelt, 
 while the rider's hands are left free for the 
 management of the reins. My little girl of nine 
 months old travelled in this way over some of 
 the worst roads in the country, lulled to sleep by 
 the open air and the gentle swaying to and fro 
 of the extemporised hammock. 
 
 Santa Tecla, or New San Salvador, as it is 
 called, is about six leagues from the old capital, 
 which, as I mentioned, was destroyed by earth- 
 quake. We heard so much of the salubrity of 
 the climate that we were tempted to live there 
 for a few months. It was a hot day in February 
 when we set oiF, accompanied by about twenty 
 Indians, carrying all our belongings, for fur- 
 nished lodgings are an unknown luxury. 
 
 We had to sleep one night on the road at a 
 very miserable place called Guarmoco, the most 
 dreary looking town in all Salvador — a collection 
 of mean, dirty houses, and one ugly white- 
 washed church, built upon a dusty plain, unre-
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 107 
 
 lieved by a single tree or blade of grass. Such 
 is Guarmoco. No wonder that the people and 
 even the animals are sickly in such a depressing 
 place. ^len, women, and children are all sub- 
 ject to goitre^ a common complaint throughout 
 the country, but this is the only place where 
 cows, horses, pigs, and poultry, are equally 
 affected. 
 
 This disgusting disease cannot arise from either 
 the water or climate of Salvador, as a clever 
 French physician who had lived in the country 
 thirty years, told me he had never known a single 
 Englishman afflicted with gtntre during the whole 
 of that time. It does not seem to cause idiotcy 
 as in the Swiss cantons. 
 
 We found Santa Tecla quite worthy of its good 
 repute, for the climate was perfectly exquisite. 
 The town is situated on a green plain on the 
 summit of a hill, while lovely wooded mountains 
 rise on nearly every side of it. It is, however, 
 singularly destitute of trees in its immediate
 
 108 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTEAL AMERICA. 
 
 vicinity — a great contrast in this to Sonsonate, 
 which is perfectly embosomed in masses of fruit 
 trees. There is also a great dearth of water, 
 there being no river near the town, and the 
 wells few and far between. In a tropical climate 
 this is a great drawback to the prosperity of any 
 place, and many of the principal families of San 
 Salvador prefer to remain there at the risk of 
 being overwhelmed by another earthquake, to 
 living in a place where they cannot have their 
 daily plunge in the river. 
 
 There are many fine houses in Santa Tecla, 
 besides a good college, whose head master is an 
 exceedingly well informed Spanish priest, who is 
 perfectly adored by his boys. The Bishop of 
 Salvador also resided there at the time of our 
 visit, and his Cathedral was in course of building. 
 The architect was a German, who by his hard 
 working industry was rapidly making a fortune, 
 and the cathedral promised to be a fine edifice. 
 Very great is the disgust of the inhabitants of
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 109 
 
 the old capital to find that their beloved Bishop 
 is fairly a fixture at the hated Santa Tecla, for 
 the animosity between the two towns is quite 
 extraordinary, near relations even quarrelling 
 fiercely on the subject. 
 
 A small omnibus— the only one in the State — 
 runs daily between the rival towns, and the 
 Spanish driver we found worth knowing, being 
 quite a character, full of quaint sayings, and 
 remarkably intelligent and amusing in conversa- 
 tion; so the seat on the box beside Pedro was 
 always sought after by the gentlemen. He 
 also a capital whip, and drove tandem, at a 
 spanking speeed over roads that would somewhat 
 horrify an English coachman, though no acci- 
 dent ever occurred. 
 
 We made several trips to San Salvador, and I 
 was surprised to find how rapidly the town had 
 risen from its ruins, though at every turning 
 signs met the eye of the terrible convulsion it 
 had suffered. Walls a yard thick rent in two,
 
 110 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 columns lying prostrate, roofs fallen in, all 
 strangely mingled with fine new bouses freslily 
 painted and splendidly furnished; rich soft 
 carpets, damask curtains and velvet furniture 
 having superseded the Indian mats and cane 
 sofas of former years, though, for my part, 
 I prefer the latter with the thermometer at 
 ninety. 
 
 We paid a visit, of course to the President 
 Senor Barino and his charming wife, and were 
 much pleased with both. He was a very fine 
 looking man, in the prime of life, with a clever, 
 keen face, and most agreeable and gentlemanlike 
 manners. His wife went by the name of the 
 " Imperatrice," on account of the graceful dignity 
 of her demeanour. 
 
 I must not pass over in my description of 
 religious festivals, that on Christmas Day. 
 
 In most houses one corner of the principal 
 sala is devoted to the erection of a species of 
 altar, where an image of the Child Saviour is to
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. Ill 
 
 be seen, generally lying in a cradle, with Mary 
 and Joseph watching over Him. A canopy of 
 either silk or coloured paper, spangled with 
 golden or silver stars and drops, hangs over the 
 group, and around them every imaginable orna- 
 ment is disposed. The ground is always strewn 
 with petals of flowers, coloured shavings, rice, 
 branches of trees, shells, vases, &c., and in the 
 more elaborate ones a rail is placed round the 
 sacred spot, all intertwined with gorgeous 
 blossoms. 
 
 I saw one nasciemiento — as these altars are 
 called — which had cost the lady who had erected 
 it a large sum of money. The figures were as 
 large as life, and beautifully executed, and 
 besides the Holy Family and the cradle — which 
 was a perfect work of art — there were the cattle 
 of the manger also life size, and admii'ably 
 natural. From the other side of the room, they 
 looked as if alive.
 
 112 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 Crowds visit these nasceimientos, which at 
 night are illuminated by large wax candles, and 
 it is one of the customs on Christmas Eve to 
 visit as many as possible before the midnight 
 mass. The poorest persons may cross the threshold 
 of any house where one of these altars is erected, 
 and offer up his sincere homage, the door being 
 generally kept open until twelve o'clock. 
 
 The great fiesta of the year, however, in Son- 
 sonate, is that of Candelavia in the month of 
 February. 
 
 A fair is held in the market-place, and crowds 
 come to buy and sell, from every town in Salva- 
 dor, and many from the neighbouring states. 
 
 After several days devoted to business, the 
 plaza is cleared of its booth, and stands erected 
 for the bull-fights. 
 
 These latter are always very harmless affairs, 
 the so-called bull being oftener a poor young 
 heifer, or patient ox.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMERICA. 113 
 
 There are the usual number of picadors, dressed 
 ill fantastic costumes, but no matador, as no 
 killing is allowed ; the former try to enrage the 
 good-tempered animal by dancing before him 
 with red flags, darting fiery squibs into him, and 
 resorting to the usual petty tortures, common in 
 all bull-fights. They occasionally succeed in 
 making him butt his head slightly, and pursue 
 his tormentor for a few paces, and this act causes 
 a great excitement amongst the assembled 
 thousands, while the mounted picador flies from 
 the threatened danger as fast as his horse can 
 carry him. 
 
 The most amusing thing at these fiestas is to 
 see the antics of the saddled ox. 
 
 A very good rider keeps on his back, and 
 makes him career round the plaza to his great 
 disgust. 
 
 He kicks, plunges, butts furiously, but all in 
 vain ; he cannot dismount the agile rider, who
 
 114 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMEEICA. 
 
 sticks on in the most wonderful manner, amid 
 roars of laughter from the crowd. 
 
 A small theatre was opened for the first time 
 during this fiesta, and though the actors were 
 all amateurs, some of them were really very 
 good. 
 
 The Spanish play of the " Barber of Seville " 
 was acted admirably, and my astonishment was 
 great when I was told that the heroine of the 
 piece was only a market girl, who did not even 
 know how to read, but had been taught her part 
 by word of mouth. 
 
 I saw her afterwards in the tragedy of 
 " Marie Stuart," and she looked every inch a 
 queen, with her beautiful dignified face and 
 graceful walk. She had a singularly white skin 
 for a ladino, and wore her black velvet train, 
 and Marie Stuart cap, as if she had been accus- 
 tomed to them all her life. 
 
 The tragedy, however, was not so well acted
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 115 
 
 as the comedy had been, there being the usual 
 amount of bathos, and the costumes of the High- 
 landers were something wonderful. 
 
 The audience had also to wait a most unrea- 
 sonable time between the acts, and as the theatre 
 was not very brilliantly lighted with oil lamps, 
 and the heat excessive, a great inclination to 
 sleep was produced. 
 
 A friend who accompanied us, regularly settled 
 herself off into a comfortable doze, directly the 
 curtain descended, conjuring us by no means to 
 wake her until it rose again. 
 
 A mischievous young Spaniard, of our acquaint- 
 ance, knowing this custom of hers, hid himself 
 in the back of one of the boxes, and commenced 
 crowing loudly, being immediately answered from 
 the pit by a friend who enacted the part of hen, 
 upon which she woke with a start, imagining it 
 was morning. 
 
 The piece was not over until nearly three 
 o'clock, when we aU wended our way homewards 
 
 I 2
 
 116 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 througli the moonlit streets, very tired, and 
 voting a theatre in the tropics a mistake. 
 
 Wandering troups of equestrians from Mexico 
 frequently find their way to Salvador, and as the 
 love of horsemanship is inherent in every man, 
 woman, and child, throughout the State, they 
 always find plenty of supporters. 
 
 There is not much gaiety amongst the higher 
 orders in Salvador, dinners and balls being very 
 rare ; dtjeuners at eleven o'clock are their favourite 
 entertainments, and these seem to combine break- 
 fast, dinner, and supper, all in one. The table 
 is loaded with luxuries, both native and foreign, 
 and as the guests are generally all intimate one 
 with the other, these reunions are very pleasant 
 things. 
 
 . After breakfast, ladies and gentlemen resort 
 to the drawing-room, or lounge about the cool 
 corridors, and patio* as they please ; the sweet 
 tones of the guitar are soon heard mingling with 
 
 • Court.
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 117 
 
 tlie piano, and occasionally if the weather is not 
 too oppressively hot, a dance is got up amongst 
 the younger portion of the assembly. 
 
 The day is concluded by the whole party pro- 
 ceeding at sunset, for an evening stroll, gener- 
 ally on the port road, for the sake of the fresh 
 breeze. 
 
 Marriages are nearly always performed at four 
 o'clock in the morning — a most uncomfortable 
 hour to our English notions. 
 
 I was witness to one of these weddings, by 
 torchlight, and it seemed to me more like the 
 gathering together of a band of conspirators than 
 a gay marriage party. 
 
 A ball was given in honour of the approach- 
 ing marriage, the night before, by a friend of the 
 young bride's, and dancing was kept up with 
 great spirit until the small hours of the morn- 
 ing. As four o'clock approached, there was a 
 slight stir, and subdued excitement to be 
 observed j the dancing became languid, and had
 
 118 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEEICA. 
 
 evidently lost its interest, and at length the 
 mother of the bride, signified that it was time to 
 be proceeding to the church. 
 
 The whole party sallied out into the moon- 
 lit streets, the bride and her father leading the 
 way, and in a few minutes we found ourselves 
 inside the dimly-lighted church, a couple of 
 flaring torches being the only lights visible, with 
 the exception of a pair of wax candles on the altar. 
 
 The first part of the ceremony was, as usual, 
 performed at the lower end of the church, the 
 torches casting a ghastly glare upon the pale faces 
 of the bride and bridegroom, while all the 
 rest of the church was shrouded in gloom. 
 
 After the ceremony was over, and the registry 
 signed by the natives of half a dozen different 
 countries, a select few proceeded to the bride's 
 house, where the breakfast was laid out, just as 
 the early dawn began to break, that most unbe- 
 coming hour to even the youngest and fairest 
 after a night's dancing.
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AMERICA. 119 
 
 The newly-married pair remained in her 
 parents' house according to the custom of the 
 country, a month's trip being considered quite a 
 superfluous waste of money and time in Central 
 America. 
 
 The roads throughout the State of Salvador 
 are too badly kept to allow of carriage exer- 
 cise. 
 
 One gentleman of our acquaintance possessed 
 an open carriage, but he had to confine his drive 
 entirely to the port road, it being the only one 
 fit for anything except an ox cart. 
 
 There used to be quite an excitement when 
 this solitary vehicle dashed through the little 
 town of Sonsonate; many of the riding horses 
 unaccustomed to such an object and alarmed at 
 the clatter of the wheels over the stones, would 
 rear and snort and show a strong inclination to 
 run away. 
 
 We had an amusing adventure in this same 
 carriage, one June moonlight night. 9
 
 120 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 We had been down to the port of Acajutta 
 with our friends to whom it belonged, and they 
 asked us to return to Sonsonate which is six 
 leagues off, in their carriage, instead of on horse- 
 back. We started at seven in the evening, 
 thinking to reach home by nine, but before we 
 had been many miles, one of the horses gave 
 symptoms of giving in, and at last nothing would 
 induce him to move an inch. We were only half 
 way from Acajutta, not even a cart or horse to 
 be had anywhere, and no means of returning to 
 Sonsonate except on foot. I proposed camping 
 out for t^e night, but as there was nothing 
 but the dusty high road to lie on, the proposi- 
 tion did not meet with any favor. 
 
 After leaving the tired horse at a small road- 
 side hotel, we finally agreed to walk on well 
 as we could, the remaining three leagues. Now 
 nine miles in the tropics is no joke, for ladies 
 especially, but fortunately the night was lovely, 
 with a moon making everything as light as day,
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 121 
 
 and innumerable fii'e flies gleamed on each side of 
 the road. 
 
 We had a mounted servant with us, and he 
 was dispatched post haste to Sonsonate to meet 
 us on the road with our horses, while our friend 
 led the other carriage horse by the bridle, with 
 now and then a muttered Spanish ejaculation 
 from between his set teeth. 
 
 It was the height of the dry season and the 
 dust was ankle deep, adding greatly to our 
 fatigue, but we forgot everything as we ap- 
 proached a small cottage, from which proceeded 
 the most unearthly screams and moans. The 
 lady who was walking with me having a very 
 courageous as well as a very humane nature, 
 rushed to the door, expecting that at least murder 
 was being committed, while the rest of the 
 party stood horror struck at the dreadful 
 sounds. 
 
 To our surprise she presently emerged with a 
 smile on her face, informing us that it was only
 
 122 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTEAL AlttEEICA. 
 
 a man suffering from tootliaclie, and that she had 
 advised him what to do for it. 
 
 After this we proceeded with frequent rests on 
 the dusty ground, until within a mile of Son- 
 sonate, when our five steeds hove in sight, and 
 glad enough we were to mount once more, arriv- 
 ing at home at midnight. 
 
 The Indians are excessively superstitious 
 having a firm belief in the evil eye, the influence 
 of the moon, the bad omen of a raven's flight, 
 and many other notions equally absurd. 
 
 An amusing story is told of an Indian guide 
 and an European traveller. 
 
 •The party were all ready for a start, when a 
 raven happened to croak in a tree overhead. 
 The Indian immediately threw up his engage- 
 ment, saying it was impossible to proceed, after 
 the raven had given such a warning of approach- 
 ing disaster. 
 
 Bribes, expostulations, and entreaties, were 
 equally vain, until at last the traveller got into
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 123 
 
 a furious rage, and slashed the imperturbable 
 guide with his horsewhip. To his surprise, the 
 Indian immediately mounted his mule, and ex- 
 pressed his willingness to commence the journey, 
 as the beating was the misfortune predicted by 
 the raven and he had now nothing further to 
 fear. 
 
 In some parts of the county they also still 
 hold to some of their old idolatries. A priest 
 told me that there is a piece of wood worshipped 
 by the Indians, who come from miles round 
 to assist at the ceremony, and that the people 
 are so tenacious of this old custom, devout 
 Catholics as they seem at other times, that 
 the priesthood are obliged to ignore the super- 
 stition.
 
 124 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTEAL AMEEICA. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 During our stay at Santa Tecla, we were 
 amused to find that there was a great talk of 
 soliciting a colony of Irishmen to come and 
 settle in the country. Tracts of Government 
 land were to be given them, and every care and 
 protection extended to them ; but it all ended 
 in smoke, perhaps all the better for San Salvador, 
 whose peaceable inhabitants might not have 
 relished the sight of broken heads and black 
 eyes at the end of all their ^es^as. 
 
 Their religion being the same, would, no doubt, 
 have been an advantage, and that was the
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 125 
 
 reason why the President thought of the most 
 pugnacious of her Majesty's subjects for his 
 scheme. 
 
 The President (himself a military man), was 
 making great efforts to re-model the army. His 
 first improvement was to put the soldiers into 
 uniform — blue, trimmed with red, and military 
 caps instead of the nondescript straw hats of 
 former times ; but one thing was wanted in their 
 costume, which made all the rest look ill to 
 an English eye — the privates were all shoeless, 
 their bare feet being merely bound with leathern 
 sandals — Indian fashion — and I was told that 
 they would not have been able to march a mile 
 had they been condemned to wear boots. 
 
 The officers are generally taken from the 
 Ladino class, v^ith a few exceptions, as no 
 man worth anything will degrade himself by 
 entering the demoralized and ill-paid army of the 
 the Eepublic. The utter lack of discipline must 
 be seen to be understood, and as long as the
 
 126 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 Indian soldier looks down on his Ladino officer, 
 and feels himself the better man of the two — 
 what else can be expected ? 
 
 In the time of Walker's raid, with his follow- 
 ing of cut throats of every nation, almost the 
 only troops that fought well and bravely were 
 the Costa Ricans, who were led into battle 
 by a higher class of officers of purer Spanish 
 descent. 
 
 The Indians are not lacking in courage ; but 
 they require white officers to lead them, and 
 instruct them in the art of fighting — of which 
 they are profoundly ignorant. A few months 
 later at Panama, we met three or four French 
 officers on their way to Salvador, by the invita- 
 tion of the President ; they were to instruct the 
 army in all the French military tactics, and were 
 most curious to hear all about the country and 
 soldiers they were going to teach. 
 
 One of them was a colonel of infantry — a 
 clever gentlemanly man ; another a cavalry
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 127 
 
 captain, who clashed his spurred heels together 
 whenever he bowed to a senorita ; and two or 
 three others of inferior grade. 
 
 I pictured to myself the sensation they would 
 create in Salvador, more particularly amongst 
 the ladies, accustomed only to see their own 
 dark-skinned, dirty, and by no means refined 
 military men. I thought, perhaps, it might 
 lead to the army becoming the fashion, and 
 thus inducing young men of good family to leave 
 the aristocratic and lucrative counter^ for the 
 vulgar and ill-jpaid profession of arms. But 
 these dreams were never I fear, realized, my 
 dashing French friends being soon driven out of 
 the country by a revolution which deprived 
 Barrios of his power. 
 
 The principal commerce of the country is 
 
 with England; but the upper orders have a 
 
 marked preference for the French nation, and 
 
 this preference I especially observed during 
 
 . the war in the Crimea, when French gallantry
 
 128 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTEAL AMERICA. 
 
 was tlie universal theme, whilst the equally 
 brave conduct of the English army was coldly 
 passed over, and any short comings made the 
 most of. This feeling is I think to be attributed 
 to the fact that they know more of the French 
 upper classes, French men of war frequently finding 
 their way up to Salvador ; while the English rarely 
 leave the South American Coasts. Everyone 
 who has mixed in French society knows the 
 superior class of men who enter the navy, where 
 so many of the old noblesse of France are to be 
 found, so we must not wonder that the people of 
 Salvador, who rarely see any other Englishmen, 
 but the rough and ill educated masters of 
 merchant ships, contrast the two nations un- 
 favorably. 
 
 They respect and admire England forher riches 
 and enterprise, but have a wonderful idea of the 
 melancholy and reserve of our countrymen, and 
 at first they seemed quite surprised to find that 
 we could talk and laugh like other mortals.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 129 
 
 There is a seabird on the coast, of a particidarly 
 solemn deportment, which the natives have 
 christened " the Englishman," and they say 
 any number of these birds may be congregated 
 together on the rocks, but not a sound pro- 
 ceeds from them. The parriquita^ the smallest 
 and most talkative of parrots, they call " the 
 Frenchman," but as they are exceedingly fond of 
 these amusing little birds the sohriqiiet may be 
 considered complimentary. 
 
 Ever since Walker's expedition to Nicaragua 
 the hatred towards Americans has been out- 
 rageous. At one time it was scarcely safe 
 for one of that nation to travel alone, muttered 
 imprecations and lowering looks meeting him at 
 every turn, and they were most unwillingly 
 received at the posadas. The slightest dispute 
 between America and England was hailed with 
 delight as likely to lead to a war, and perhaps to 
 the extermination of their hated enemy, for as 
 to the possibility of the English ever getting a
 
 130 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 defeat, it never occurred to them, which shows 
 that though they have no great love for England 
 they hold her superior to every other nation in 
 the world. 
 
 We passed several months at Santa Tecla, but 
 at the end of that time began to sigh for the 
 refreshing rivers and cheerful society of Son- 
 sonate, of both of which there is a great dearth 
 in Santa Tecla, so taking advantage of a short 
 spell of fine weather in the month of August we 
 set off on our return home in the same manner as 
 we came. 
 
 The roads were of course in a fearful state 
 after three months of incessant rains, and this 
 made it very fatiguing for both horses and riders, 
 but on the second day we arrived in safety at 
 Sonsonate, which certainly felt very like an oven 
 after Santa Tecla, but the first bath in the 
 delicious river San Antonio quite reconciled us 
 to the change. 
 
 We also appreciated the graceful cocoa-nuts
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 131 
 
 and fragrant orange and mango trees, after re- 
 siding in a place nearly destitute of them, and 
 the kind and warm-hearted welcome of our 
 friends made us feel more at home than we could 
 in any other spot of Central America. 
 
 In October of the same year, however, we were 
 obliged to make preparations for a return to Eng- 
 land, after an absence of eight years. It was with 
 a profound regret that I bade adieu to many kind 
 friends, whose affection had endeared the country 
 to us, and I felt also, as we rode for the last time 
 down to the seaport of Acajutta, that my eyes 
 could never rest on a lovelier land, with its 
 smiling plains rich in fruit trees, and its splendid 
 ranges of majestic mountains, whose volcanic 
 peaks seemed to pierce the azure sky above. 
 
 The sea, as usual, was very rough, making it 
 by no means a pleasant operation to be lowered 
 in a chair from the mole into the boat beneath, 
 and great dexterity is required to time the mo- 
 ment exactly when the boat is lifted up on the 
 
 K 2
 
 132 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 crest of a huge wave. The occupant of the chair 
 is tumbled out in a very unceremonious manner, 
 and in another moment the boat is down in a 
 yawning gulf that seems about to swallow her 
 up. 
 
 After half an hour's tossing in this boat, we 
 were not sorry to find ourselves on board the 
 beautiful American steamer " Guatemala," more 
 like a gentleman's yacht in its luxurious appoint- 
 ments than a passenger ship. It was quite a 
 new vessel, built expressly for this line, and con- 
 tained every comfort and convenience for a 
 tropical climate. Large, airy sleeping cabins, 
 beautiful ventilation in every part, and a marble 
 bath room, so that the week's voyage to Panama 
 was as pleasant as anything at sea can be. 
 
 ^ We touched at the port of Libertad, a few 
 leagues from San Salvador, the next morning, 
 but as the sea was raging, I was quite unable to go 
 on deck to have a peep at it. I believe however it 
 is. a miserable-place, like all the seaport towns,
 
 -RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 13S 
 
 with only a roadstead, the same as at Acajutta, 
 and no mole, so everything has to be takeil 
 ashore in surf boats, which are often capsized. 
 
 After rolling about in a most distracting mari- 
 ner for a few hours we were again under weigh, 
 and the sea becoming calmer, I was able to get 
 on deck and enjoy the sight of the deep blue 
 water, just rippling under the soft fresh breeze. 
 The deck presented the usual appearance of list- 
 less readers and animated talkers. We had a 
 dij)lomatic gentleman, grave, reserved, and re- 
 fined in one corner; a Lord Dundreary in 
 another; a charming and mercurial young 
 Spaniard who talked to all in turn; while the 
 kind and obliging, but decidedly Yankee Captain 
 had laid himself up on a bench, and amused him- 
 self with the fierce antics of a beautiful tiger cat 
 that he was trying to tame. 
 
 Our next halting place was Realejo, the port 
 of the State of Nicaragua. It is a flat, un- 
 healthy looking town, suspiciously green, but
 
 134 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTKAL AMEEICA, 
 
 pretty and fertile in appearance as seen from the 
 sea. Fever is very prevalent in the rainy season, 
 but a Consul is obliged to reside there all the year 
 round. The dulness of the place is excessive, 
 as the few foreigners in the State naturally settle 
 in the more healthy inland towns, and it is sur- 
 prising how any one can be found to accept an 
 appointment to such a wretched locality, where 
 the only excitement is the monthly arrival of 
 the steamer, and the glimpse of civilised life 
 then obtained. 
 
 After a stay of a few hours we again proceeded 
 on our way, and in two or three days arrived at 
 San Jose, the port of Costa Rica. This is a flat, 
 sandy -looking place, with the houses built nearly 
 into the water, and it had a hot, dreary, dusty 
 look about it, as if the inhabitants must always 
 suffer from thirst, which I believe they do, if re- 
 port speaks the truth. As we stayed one 
 whole day here, my husband and other passengers 
 went ashore to have a look at the town, which
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEKICA. 135 
 
 they described as being poor looking, though a 
 good deal of business is done in it, principally by 
 English and Americans, and there is a danger- 
 ous bar at the entrance of the harbour, which 
 makes it a hazardous undertaking to go ashore 
 at low tide. A few more days passed plea- 
 santly on board the ' Guatemala,' with a cloud- 
 less sky and just enough breeze to refresh us and 
 ripple the sea, and we then found ourselves 
 entering the lovely Bay of Panama, studded with 
 little islands wooded to the water's edge. 
 
 Several American steamers and men-of-war of 
 various nations were lying at anchor, giving anima- 
 tion to the scene, and a truly pleasant sight to any 
 one fresh from the other deserted Central American 
 ports. A small steamer soon made its appearance, 
 and took the few passengers on shore. We were 
 landed at a civilized-looking wharf, and an omni- 
 bus was in waiting to take us to an hotel, but as 
 we jolted along the rough, narrow streets, I began 
 to compare wild and civilized life, I fear to the
 
 136 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 disadvantage of the latter, and it was not the 
 first time that I had done so. 
 
 I was much pleased with the appearance of 
 Panama, with its high balconied houses, looldng 
 so old and quaint and truly Spanish, and at our 
 hotel, which was kept by Germans, we had toler- 
 ably comfortable rooms, though at an exorbitant 
 price. The table was excellent, every luxury 
 being procurable, even ices, the weekly steamer 
 from New York bringing quantities of ice to 
 the Isthmus, and as it has been found of the 
 greatest benefit in fevers, it is eagerly sought after 
 by high and low. Our stay at the hotel was very 
 short, some hospitable friends having invited us 
 us to their house. 
 
 The principal object of interest in Panama is 
 the old sea wall built by the Spaniards. It is of 
 immense strength and thickness, and a few years 
 ago was strongly fortified and armed with beauti- 
 ful brass guns, but the Government lately sold 
 all but a few, that are quite insufiicient for pur- 
 pose of defence.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 137 
 
 The rampart is the favourite phice for the 
 evening and moonlight lounge. At the latter 
 time the view of the broad hay, all flooded with 
 light, is indeed lovely. There is nothing re- 
 markable about any of the churches or public 
 buildings, with the exception of one picturesque 
 old ruin of the first church erected by the 
 Spaniards in Panama; the bells are most beauti- 
 ful, and so wonderfully sonorous and musical in 
 tone that there is a tradition attached to them. 
 It is said that on contributions being requested 
 by the King'of Spain for the bells which he wished 
 to present to the church, the ladies of the Court, 
 in their pious zeal, had their gold and silver 
 ornaments melted down, in order that the sound 
 should be enriched by those precious metals, 
 whilst offering a truly royal gift to their king. 
 
 I was much surprised to see so many negroes 
 in Panama. The servants are nearly entirely 
 from that race, and bitter are the complaints of 
 dishonesty, laziness, and incurably dirty habits. 
 Some friends of ours, with whom we lived during
 
 138 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMEEICA. 
 
 our short stay at Panama, had been so disgusted 
 with the details of housekeeping that they 
 adopted the excellent plan, of having their 
 breakfasts and dinners brought to them daily 
 from the German hotel, thereby saving all the 
 trouble and worry entailed by dishonest cooks, 
 who consider it a regular perquisite to feed their 
 numerous relations at their master's cost. 
 
 The price of provisions is enormous at Panama, 
 ever since the completion of the railroad, and the 
 influx of Californians ; the reckless extravagance 
 of the latter, and their apparent disregard of 
 their hard won gold, being a great misfortune 
 to the inhabitants of any town through which 
 they pass, instantly raising, as they do, the 
 price of everything. We found the society of 
 Panama very pleasant ; the ladies especially 
 having a peculiar fascination of manner, 
 and most of them sing with much taste and 
 sweetness to the guitar. Their national song 
 is very beautiful and spirit stirring, Simon
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 139 
 
 Bolivar being of course the subject of it. It 
 consists of about twenty verses, some of which are 
 very pretty. There is a more aristocratic feeling 
 in Panama, as far as I could judge amongst the first 
 native families, than in the other Central American 
 States, and strangers who come without letters 
 of introduction cannot get an entree into the best 
 circle. A great many Americans, and a few 
 English, are settled in the town, but mix very 
 little, I am told, with the natives. 
 
 After a pleasant stay of twelve days, the Cali- 
 fornian steamer arrived, so we prepared to make 
 a start for Colon, or Aspinwall, as the Americans 
 call it, to meet the New York steamer, which 
 was only waiting for the Californian passengers. 
 As we wished to see something of Colon, we 
 started, accompanied by some friends, a day 
 sooner than was necessary, and it was with much 
 interest that I found myself crossing the nar- 
 row Isthmus that divides the two great oceans. 
 The railway carriages are arranged r) T Americaine.,
 
 140 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 without any divisions, and reminded me more of a 
 church than anything else, with the aisle down the 
 middle, and the pews on each side ; for a hot country 
 this certainly has its advantages, being infinitely 
 cooler, and the comfort of an occasional promenade 
 down the whole length of the train is great. 
 After so many years of horseback travelling, it 
 seemed very strange to be rushing through the 
 wild country at the rate of thirty miles an hour, 
 and the fiice of our Salvador servant, whom we 
 had brought with us, was quite a picture. As the 
 train started with its shrill whistle, alarm, awe, 
 and amazement, were all vividly expressed, and we 
 had travelled some miles before he recovered his 
 equanimity. The different stations on the road 
 are very pretty and picturesque, but look strangely 
 out of keeping with the wild, desolate country. 
 With the exception of the station houses, scarcely 
 a habitation is to be seen along the whole forty 
 miles. Jungle and swamp, and an occasional 
 wooded hill of no considerable height, is the sort
 
 EECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 141 
 
 of country through which the train rushes to 
 the shores of the Atlantic. 
 
 Hundreds of unfortunate Irishmen fell victims 
 to the deadly climate in the construction of this 
 railway. As soon as one batch was swept away , 
 another was sent from New York to fill their 
 place, until the forty miles — as fatal to life as 
 many a battle field — were successfully completed. 
 I was told that in many places the men had to 
 work up to their knees in water, while jungle 
 had to be cleared and valleys filled up with 
 immense cost and labour, but the Company is 
 now reaping a golden harvest, the Californians 
 preferring this route home to that through 
 Nicaragua and Greytown, as being more direct 
 and less troublesome. 
 
 In an hour's time we came in sight of the 
 Atlantic, and of the strange-looking wooden 
 town of Colon, with its flimsy-painted houses 
 gleaming bright in the sunshine, forming such a 
 contrast to venerable Spanish-looking Panama.
 
 142 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 In Colon everything is American, hotels, shops 
 (or stores as they are called), and people. The 
 Yankee twang resounds on every side, and 
 scarcely anyone of Spanish descent is to be seen. 
 The lower class seemed to consist almost entirely 
 of blacks — I suppose originally from Jamaica. 
 The principal hotel is a very fine one, built quite 
 in the American style, with a capital table d'hote^ 
 capable of accommodating an immense number 
 of visitors ; a most luxurious table is kept, every- 
 thing being excellent in quality, and cooked to 
 perfection, the hotel belonging to an Irishman, 
 who prides himself not a little on the style 
 of the whole thing in such a place as Colon. 
 
 There being no room in the hotel for us, the 
 hospitable proprietor gave us up his own private 
 house for the night, and would not hear of any 
 remuneration. 
 
 Before dinner, we and our kind Panama friends 
 sallied out to have a look at the town, and the 
 beautiful promenade by the sea- shore, which was
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 143 
 
 just completed by subscription. The town itself 
 is ugly and uninteresting, as all new American 
 towns are ; but the road by the sea is lovely. 
 Groups of graceful cocoa-nut trees are left here 
 and there, their stems nearly washed by the crested 
 waves as they roll in. The road is beautifully 
 kept, broad and even, and pretty detached houses 
 lie a little back from it, as clean and bright- 
 looking as paint can make them. All have 
 Venetian blinds, and pretty shady porticoes ; and 
 I can fancy how pleasant it must be to sit out of 
 an evening and enjoy the sight and sound of 
 the great rolling waves as they burst on the 
 shore. 
 
 One part of the road lies through a beautiful 
 forest, and here, under the magnificent trees, 
 seats are placed for the weary. This promenade 
 is, of course, the favourite resort of all Aspinwall 
 at sunset ; indeed, it is the only place where you 
 can walk with any pleasure, as the streets are
 
 144 KECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 very dirty, and in the rainy season almost impas- 
 sible from mud. 
 
 The climate is dreadfully sickly, and so fatal 
 to women, that as soon as the rains commence, the 
 Americans send off their wives and children to 
 New York, where they remain until December, 
 when the place becomes comparatively healthy. 
 What a life for the unfortunate married people ; 
 but what will not be endured for the sake of 
 making money ? 
 
 The houses are beautifully furnished, and the 
 merchants seem to be doing a thriving business, 
 so that no doubt, in a few years, it will be a large 
 and prosperous town, though horribly unhealthy 
 it must always be, for it is built upon a 
 swamp. 
 
 The rainy season was nearly over when we 
 were there ; but an occasional storm still made 
 its appearance, and on our way back to our 
 hotel we were caught in one of these. Before
 
 "RECOLLECTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 145 
 
 we could reach shelter, the streets were a bog, 
 and we sank ankle deep every step we took. If 
 one heavy shower has this effect upon the spongy 
 ground, what must it be when the rain pours 
 every day down in floods ? 
 
 The mosquitoes even in the dry season are 
 formidable enemies to any European ; so vene- 
 mous is their sting that every bite becomes an 
 ulcer, particularly on children. My little boy 
 was two months in recovering from the effects of 
 one night at Aspinwall. 
 
 We were not sorry on the following day to bid 
 adieu to the dreary spot, and embark on board 
 the " Baltic," the freight of Californians being 
 already on board — for no other passengers are 
 allowed to set foot in the vessel until these gentry 
 are comfortably installed, having had the choice 
 of all the cabins. 
 
 What a chaos the steamer presented with its 
 thousand passengers, hundreds of children chok- 
 ing up every passage, and the decks so crowded 
 
 It
 
 146 EECOLLECTIONS OP CENTEAL AMERICA. 
 
 that it was a matter of difficulty to thread one's 
 N'dj, but fortunately, all had recovered from their 
 sea-sickness, so that horror was not added to the 
 stifling heat and other discomforts of the 
 "Baltic," which was built originally for the 
 American line between New York and England; 
 for which reason there was not a single con- 
 trivance for coolness, warmth being the one thing 
 thought of. The consequence was that the atmos- 
 phere of the cabins and ladies' saloon was so fear- 
 fully oppressive, that I wonder the poor little 
 children on board survived it. 
 
 T would advise no one, at least no lady, ever 
 to return to Europe vid New York, unless abso- 
 lutely obliged to do so, for no words can express 
 the amount of misery and suffering condensed in 
 that one week's voyage ; and the sudden transi- 
 tion also from excessive heat to the extreme of 
 cold, must be very trying to the constitution. 
 
 Three days before arriving at New York, the 
 sky seems almost suddenly to change from the
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP CENTRAL AMERICA. 147 
 
 deep tropical azure to a dreary milk and water 
 hue ; the sun himself seems to become an insigni- 
 ficant atom of light instead of the blazing giant 
 he was, and everything looks terribly sad, cheer- 
 less, and wild. 
 
 We arrived at New York at mid-night, and 
 before eight o'clock next morning every passen- 
 ger had landed, the tardy ones being nearly 
 swept out of* their cabins by the impatient 
 stewards, whose utter want of courtesy is some- 
 thing to be remembered for ever. 
 
 So ended the most disagreeable voyage T ever 
 made in all my travels, and those alone who have 
 experienced the same trials can imagine how we 
 revelled in New York comfort and luxury, which 
 is carried to perfection in the hotels. 
 
 In a few short weeks we were in England. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 
 
 THE EARTHQUAKE OP SAN SALVADOR, 
 
 APRii 16th, 1854. 
 (Page 65.; 
 
 Note. — One shock had occurred about half-an-hour before the 
 dreadful convulsion which destroyed the city, and this warning, 
 by causing the inhabitants to rush out into the streets, saved many 
 lives. 
 
 The quiet City slept, 
 
 No storm was in the sky, 
 But brilliant stars their vigil kept. 
 
 Glowing like lamps on high. 
 
 Purple the depths of night, 
 
 And still the sleeping air, 
 Save for fresh murmurs soft and light. 
 
 Of water everywhere. 
 
 The quiet City slept — 
 
 At least, to outward view ; 
 But some, they smil'd, and others wept ; 
 
 With some the minutes flew. 
 
 When hark ! the church tolls ten ! 
 
 Soft— solemn — clear — it rings. 
 Floating o'er mount, and stream, and glen 
 
 As if the sound had wings. 
 
 Scarce was the echo o'er. 
 
 When nature felt the throea 
 Of fiery life. Bursting the door 
 
 That prison'd her, she rose. 
 
 In smoke, and steam, and dust. 
 
 In shakings to and fro, 
 Cracking the hot and parched crust 
 
 That hides the flame below !
 
 THE EARTHQUAKE OF SAN SALVADOE« 149 
 
 The houses totter, fall, 
 
 Churches are rent in twain, 
 Crumbles to dust the massive wall. 
 
 And Death and Ruin reign. 
 
 All nature feels the crash. 
 
 And sights and sounds of pain 
 
 Scare like the lurid lightning's flash. 
 And madden ev'ry brain. 
 
 The dying and the dead 
 
 Mix with the living stream, 
 Lovers that yesterday were wed 
 
 Wake from their blissful dream. 
 
 All throng the open streets. 
 
 With wild and startled air ; 
 And ev'ry heart in anguish beats. 
 
 Or finds its strength in prayer. 
 
 Ten seconds brief are fled. 
 
 The rapid shocks are o'er. 
 And dust and ashes wide are spread 
 
 O'er scenes so fair before. 
 
 Dark chasms yawn around. 
 Trees from their roots are torn, 
 
 And ruins strew the burning ground, 
 Where late the flow'rs were born. 
 
 The husband's breaking heart 
 Calls for the young, the dead, 
 
 Whose tender soul of his was part, 
 But now for ever fled. 
 
 Mothers for children mourn. 
 
 Like Rachel, comfortless ! 
 Death from their circling arms hath torn 
 
 The babes they lov'd to bless. 
 
 Hundreds, in mute despair, 
 
 Gaze on each ruin'd home, 
 Then wild lamentings pierce th? air. 
 
 While want and rapine roam.
 
 1150 THE EAETHQUAKU OF SAN SALVADOE. 
 
 Priests hold aloft the cross. 
 
 Sign of redeeming love, 
 3^nd bid men seek, 'mid ev'ry loss. 
 
 To fix their hopes above. 
 
 The hearts so dead before. 
 
 Wake to a sense of sin. 
 And loudly now for grace implore. 
 
 And peace, and pardon win. 
 
 The trembling earth is still 
 
 When dawns another day, 
 And o'er a scene most drear and chill 
 
 Glimmers the sun's red ray. 
 
 Is this the city proud 
 
 Where wealth and pleasure dwelt? 
 This crumbling church the same whose crowd 
 
 In pious worship knelt ? 
 
 Are these the homes so fair. 
 
 Where love deHghted smil'd ? 
 ■This sulph'rous breath the same sweet air 
 
 Which toilsome hours beguil'd ? 
 
 Alas ! the same — the same j 
 
 One hour of wild dismay 
 Upon the stately city came. 
 
 So fair but yesterday ! 
 
 The homes where children play'd. 
 
 The lovers' leafy bow'r, 
 The churches where the faithful pray'd 
 
 AU felt that earthquake's pow'r. 
 
 So floods of passion come 
 
 In fire to rend the soul. 
 So lie the ruined hearts of some 
 
 O'er which griefs earthquakes roll. 
 
 The heart is still the same. 
 
 But turn'd to ashes ! dust ! 
 ( Burnt by some deep consuming flame 
 Like Earth's volcanic crust.
 
 151 
 
 THE HOUR OF REST. 
 
 Note — Near the Guarramal, a mountain gnlly in Salvador, there 
 stands a cotton tree of extraordinary size and beauty, and beneath its 
 shade travellers find a cool resting-place even in the hottest part of 
 the day. The writer has lost her memorandum of the dimensions of 
 this gigantic tree, and fears to hazard a statement that might seem 
 exaggerated, as only those who have seen these enormous trees can 
 form any idea of their size. She remembers at the time she rested 
 under this particular tree, her impression was that a regiment of sol- 
 diers might have sheltered themselves beneath its branches. 
 
 Alone it stands, that Monarch of the woods ! 
 
 Like some cathedral vast, its leafy dome 
 Towers against the Heaven's celestial blue, 
 
 While from its verdant depths soft whispers come. 
 
 A world of shadow lies beneath its boughs. 
 And cool and green the daylight then declines, 
 
 Except where on the sward, a brilliant gleam 
 Its struggling way has marked in broken lines. 
 
 Countless as stars above, the dewy leaves 
 Reach like a glist'ning curtain to the ground. 
 
 While giant branches rear their arms on liigh. 
 Fed by the rains, by centuries embrown'd. 
 
 The air is full of song, of tender trills. 
 
 Of many long drawn out melodious notes ; 
 
 And Heaven's choristers their anthems sing 
 
 With quiv'ring plumage spread, and fluttering throats. 
 
 There sweet Sonsontes* chant their magic lay. 
 Others responding from that leafy screen. 
 
 And birds like jewels gleam upon the wing 
 Matching the sapphire's and the ruby's sheen. 
 
 * Mocking-bird.
 
 152 THE HOUE OP EEST. 
 
 Beside that mighty tnmk two children play. 
 
 Lovely and happy a3 the birds above. 
 With flowing golden hair and azure eyes, 
 
 Their^^parents watching them with tender love. 
 
 The weary horses stand beneath the shade 
 With languid eyes half clos'd and heads that droop, 
 
 And on the grass the sunburnt guides recline 
 Forming a dusky background to the group. 
 
 Sweet hour of rest ! of cool delicious rest 
 For thoughtful woman and for working man, 
 
 For happy childhood, making play a toil, 
 For faithful steeds. — Best all — rest while ye can. 
 
 So in life's journey shady spots there are. 
 Where for a while the soul can rest in peace 
 
 After some conflict won, some sorrow pass'd. 
 When Christ has told the warring winds to cease. 
 
 'Tis then God's voice is heard amongst the trees, 
 And in the stormy ocean's ebb and flow, 
 
 In ev'ry echo of the mountain range, 
 On frowning height, in smiling vale below. 
 
 Beneath the shadow of His love we rest 
 
 Secure from passion's scorching sun the while. 
 
 From sorrow's cloud, from sin's defiling dust. 
 Feeling His presence, conscious of His smile. 
 
 ^■£'6^^=^?l5^':«?f*'>^—
 
 PAET II.
 
 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIEA AND THE 
 WEST COAST OF AFEICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 My husband having "been appointed Consul at 
 Lagos in 1860, he went there first alone, and 
 wrote to me to go to Madeira with my little girl 
 and await there his summons to join him. After 
 a stormy passage in the month of November, 
 Madeira lay before me — the place of all others, 
 that I had long wished to see. 
 
 How lovely it looked as we approached it, 
 with its towering hills, and verdant slopes, and 
 pretty cheerful houses, half embedded in trees !
 
 156 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 The harbour was crowded with boats, going to 
 and from our Queen's yacht, which had just 
 landed the Empress of Austria, and looked very 
 beautiful lying at anchor in the blue waters of 
 the bay. 
 
 Wonderful little boys, without a stitch of 
 clothing on them, swam round the ship like so 
 many young porpoises, diving for the silver coins 
 thrown to them by the passengers — which were 
 distinctly seen, so clear is the water, lying on the 
 yellow sand. 
 
 After waiting a tedious time for the visit of 
 the custom-house and health-officer, we were at 
 length allowed to land — a somewhat disagreeable 
 undertaking in Madeira when the wind blows, as 
 then the breakers near shore are very apt to upset 
 the boat that trusts to them. 
 
 We were fortunate, however, in having a calm 
 day, and the third wave bore us high and dry on 
 the shingly beach of Funchal.
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF APEICA. 157 
 
 The instant I set foot on shore, I fancied my- 
 self once more in Portugal ; there were the 
 creaking ox-carts, the lumbering carriages drawn 
 by the same animals, the sun-burnt drivers with 
 their round felt-hats and short jackets, the women 
 with the dark stuff petticoats and snow-white 
 handkerchief on their heads, there also was the 
 market-place with its fountain of purest water, 
 the plaza with its avenue of trees ; even the 
 climate seemed the same with its azure sky, and 
 soft warm breeze laden with the perfume of 
 flowers ; and last, though not least, there were 
 the very same little ragged urchins, clamouring 
 for cinco reis^ the most importunate and impu- 
 dent of their race. 
 
 After the ox-carriage had rattled us over the 
 cruel stones we arrived at the boarding-house, 
 where I intended to reside for a time. A small 
 door admitted us at once into a lovely garden, 
 full of roses and other flowers in bloom, and 
 commanding from its trellised walks an en-
 
 158 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 chanting view of the harbour, and miles of blue 
 sea 
 
 I secured a couple of large airy rooms on the 
 ground floor, with windows opening both on land 
 and sea views. They were prettily furnished in 
 white and rose colour, and cool straw-mats of 
 very fine texture covered the floors — welcome 
 substitutes for carpets. 
 
 The dining-room up-stairs was a noble apart- 
 ment, opening with French windows on another 
 garden at the back of the house. The latter 
 was not of great extent, but the view of 
 the mountain that seemed to rise almost abruptly 
 from its edge was very beautiful. 
 
 Far, far above us, gleamed the white church 
 of Nossa Senora del Monte, with its flight of 
 many steps, and the black fir forest almost encir- 
 cling it. 
 
 Lower down the hill, bright green patches of 
 sugar-cane were very conspicuous ; the culture of 
 this plant having quite superseded that of the
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 159 
 
 vine since the grape disease. Beautiful creepers 
 are also now frequently seen, trained on the 
 trellises, where the vine used to flourish, adding 
 greatly to the beauty of these embowered walks. 
 Some of these creepers are of such brilliant dyes, 
 that the eye is almost dazzled by their splendoui- 
 as they fall in graceful festoons over the grey 
 stone walls. 
 
 A Madeira garden comprises everything most 
 beautiful in nature, improved by art. In addi- 
 tion to the flowers and shady walks, its terraces 
 command the most glorious views over land and 
 sea. The steep nature of the ground necessitates 
 this construction of the gardens, and the eye 
 looks down upon a succession of brilliant plateaus, 
 one beneath another, where the camellias and 
 orange trees mingle their foliage. 
 
 On one side of the steep streets, high granite 
 walls are built, and these have the advantage of 
 casting a pleasant shade on the narrow stoney
 
 160 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 hills, which would otherwise be insupportably 
 hot and fatigueing. 
 
 The fashionable promenade had lately been 
 completed, by subscription ; the late Queen 
 Adelaide having, I believe, started the under- 
 taking with a munificent donation. 
 
 It is a broad, smooth, civilized-looking road, 
 winding round the edge of the cliffs, and com- 
 mands lovelv and extensive views. 
 
 Here, at sunset, are to be seen all the elite of 
 Funchal, mostly on horseback, but a few also lum- 
 bering along in the ox-carriage. Pedestrians are 
 few, and far between, the tremendous hills daunt- 
 ing nearly everyone from much exercise on 
 foot. 
 
 Almost every hired horse is accompanied by 
 its running footman, who is armed with a long 
 switch, with which he is incessantly whisking off 
 the flies. He keeps pace with his horse in a 
 wonderful manner, trotting or walking, as the 
 humour of its rider prompts him.
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 161 
 
 It amused me very much to see Englishmen 
 riding with this appendage at their heels, as if 
 they could not take care of themselves, but custom 
 is everything, and many assured me they would 
 not know how to get on without their attendant. 
 The horses, also, are so accustomed to have 
 the flies whisked oflf for them, that the poor things 
 do not know how to do it with their own 
 tails. 
 
 There are several shady plazas in the lower 
 part of the town In the principal one a fine 
 military band plays twice a week, on which occa- 
 sions there is scarcely standing room, so great is 
 the love of music among the Portuguese. Rows 
 of chairs are placed for the ladies beneath the 
 trees, which are quickly filled, principally by the 
 Portuguese ladies, all en grande toilette^ while 
 groups of our countrywomen, on horseback, ride 
 up and down on the outskirt of the crowd. 
 
 It is quite a treat to listen to such a band be- 
 neath such a sky. Every man who performs 
 
 TS.
 
 162 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIEA 
 
 seems a born musician, and the most difficult 
 Italian overtures are executed in a manner 
 worthy of an orchestra at a first rate opera. 
 
 The English residents have a handsome club- 
 house, comprising ball room, reading room, 
 and library. The Portuguese have also their 
 Assembly rooms, where balls and concerts are 
 held. 
 
 There is a large English resident society, and 
 this of course is greatly increased by the winter 
 influx of visitors. A great number of Germans 
 were in Funchal when I arrived, the Empress of 
 Austria having made the place fashionable for 
 all the invalids throughout the fatherland. Her 
 Majesty won all hearts at Madeira by her beauty 
 and her grace of manner. 
 
 I used frequently to see her driving about in 
 her ox carriage, which mode of conveyance caused 
 her, I heard, great amusement on first arriving 
 at Funchal. 
 
 When she disembarked from the yacht one of
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 163 
 
 these lumbering equipages was waiting at the 
 landing place to convey her to her house, and 
 when she at length understood that is was meant 
 for her use, her gravity quite gave way. It ap- 
 pears that in Austria condemned criminals are 
 always taken to the scaffold in vehicles drawn by 
 oxen. 
 
 Those invalids who object to the wearisome 
 ox carriage are borne in hammocks slung on a 
 long pole and carried by two men. 
 
 Basket sledges are also much used for descend- 
 ing the hills. These are strange-looking convey- 
 ances, resembling very large arm chairs, with a low 
 back ; they can accommodate three persons com- 
 fortably, and are pushed, or rather held, by two 
 men behind, who regulate its speed by a rope on 
 each side. They glide down the slippery, 
 precipitous pavements, with great velocity, the 
 men having to run at a great speed to keep up 
 with them. Occasionally an overturn occurs, 
 but not frequently, and as the sledge is so near 
 
 M 2
 
 164 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIEA 
 
 the ground, it is seldom any serious injury is 
 inflicted. 
 
 It is an exhilarating and pleasant way of get- 
 ting over the ground, and far preferable to either 
 carriage or hammock in its smooth, gliding 
 motion. 
 
 Soon after my arrival I made an excursion 
 with some friends to see the Cabo Girao, con- 
 sidered, I have heard, one of the highest promon- 
 tories in the world. It rises a sheer precipice 
 from the sea; and as our boat lay beneath in its 
 mighty shadow, the height we looked up at made 
 me giddy. 
 
 We landed at the miserable little dirty village 
 which lay at the foot of the mountain, and there 
 the gentlemen hired hammocks to ascend the pro- 
 ii^ontory. Another lady of the party and myself 
 did not feel equal to the undertaking, it being the 
 hottest time of the day, and the mountain destitute 
 of trees; so, after a little hesitation, we agreed to 
 return to Funchal, not by the boat, however, but .
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 165 
 
 on foot, as we had each felt a soupqon of sea^ 
 sickness. 
 
 "We neither of us knew the way, but as wef 
 kept Nossa Senora del Monte as our beacon, we 
 knew we could not go far wrong. 
 
 The scenery was magnificent, making us for- 
 get our fatigue, and as I had the good fortune of 
 being with a companion who knew when to be 
 silent, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 
 
 Kanges of blue mountains, dark chasms, and 
 fruitful valleys surrounded us on every side, and 
 as we had plenty of time before us, we took many 
 a rest by the way, feeling as if we could never 
 gaze long enough at so much beauty. 
 
 Occasionally we met a stray peasant, and as 
 I knew sufficient of the language to make myself 
 understood, we never lost our way, and arrived 
 at about four o'clock in Funchal, very tired, but 
 pleased with our exploit. " 
 
 The market-place in Funchal is a gay and 
 animated scene, in the early hours of the morn-
 
 iQ6 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 ing ; it is crowded with the country people from 
 all the villages round, bringing in their fruit and 
 yegetables for sale, and I was pleased to see once 
 more the various costumes of Portugal ; amongst 
 others, the scarlet cloth cape of Braga, and the 
 wide black felt hats, adorned with tufts round 
 %e low crown. 
 
 : All sorts of things are sold in the market- 
 place, besides eatables ; shoes, baskets of every 
 description, some very pretty, and many articles 
 of coarse clothing. 
 
 The fish are remarkable for their brilliant 
 colours ; I have seen them of the brightest 
 crimson, blue, and violet. In fact the sun in 
 Madeira seems to paint everything, in hues, 
 brighter than elsewhere. The shops are famous 
 also for their lovely feather flowers, and speci- 
 mens of embroidery and crochet work are ex- 
 hibited in their windows. 
 
 ' The Portuguese excel in needlework of every 
 -kind, and are as great in hemming and stitching
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 167 
 
 as they are in fancy work. Their crochet is 
 remarkably fine and delicate, looking almost like 
 Honiton lace, and their knitted shawls are very 
 pretty and elegant, and so fine, that they can be 
 passed through a ring. 
 
 The feather flowers of Madeira are almost as 
 beautiful as the natural ones, and are made 
 entirely from the plumage of birds. The hum- 
 ming-birds contribute largely to form these 
 lovely wreaths, and the brilliant colours of 
 their plumage vie with the flowers they feed on. 
 The greatest taste is displayed in the arrange- 
 ment of the wreaths, and nature is copied so 
 closely, that it requires almost the touch to con- 
 vince one that the flowers are artificial. 
 
 Though so many invalids resort to Madeira, 
 no impression of gloom is left on the mind. 
 Cheerful faces abound, and everyone seems enjoy- 
 ing life to the utmost. Even of the consumptive 
 patients the greater number are able to take a
 
 168 A GLIMPSE AT IIADEIEA 
 
 daily ride, accompanied by their friends ; and 
 the exquisite beauty of the climate seems to 
 have a renovating eflfect on everyone. 
 
 The English church is very pretty, but of 
 peculiar construction, being of a rotunda shape, 
 supported by pillars. The music is very good, 
 principally, I believe, amateur, and the church 
 is so well ventilated, that no inconvenience is 
 felt from the heat of the climate. It is sur- 
 rounded by a lovely garden, and scarcely looks 
 like a church outside, having neither turret, 
 spire, nor belfry. 
 
 The Presbyterians have their Scotch church in 
 another part of the town ; it is a neat and taste- 
 ful building, of white and grey stone ; and the 
 very high church party have hired a room where 
 service is performed, much to the surprise of the 
 Portuguese, who cannot understand the petty 
 differences that divide our Anglican church. 
 With them heretics are heretics voila tout I
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFKICA. 169 
 
 I was a little disappointed with the English 
 cemetery, having heard it was very beautiful. 
 It is kept, certainly, in the most perfect order? 
 but there are few fine monuments, and the stones 
 on the graves have nearly all the form of coffins, 
 which gives a most melancholy look to the whole 
 place. 
 
 I much preferred the Portuguese cemetery, 
 with its rows of large sombre cypresses, and 
 numerous stone crosses gleaming white amongst 
 the dark foliage, 
 
 . The patois [spoken by the lower orders in 
 Madeira is very ugly, and so different from the 
 Portuguese language when purely spoken, that I 
 had some difficulty in understanding it. The 
 ' Z," — a letter frequently used in the language 
 — is always pronounced in Madeira as " sh," so 
 that they seem like a set of " ole clo' men," talk- 
 ing together. 
 
 The water carriers are an extraordinary race 
 of men, and all have a particular song, which
 
 170 A GXilMPSE AT MADEIEA 
 
 they sing in a higli nasal discordant key, as they 
 slouch along with their large water jars poised on 
 their shoulders. 
 
 The water in Madeira is deliciously cold, pure, 
 and sparkling, and is brought from the mountains 
 by means of an aqueduct. This latter is a great 
 work, and must have cost much time and labour 
 to complete it, but most pleasant it is as you toil 
 Tip the steep burning hills, to hear the soft fresh 
 gurgle of water, pouring impetuously down its 
 stone reservoir. 
 
 Everyone visits the church called '' Nossa 
 Senora del Monte," so I felt bound to do the 
 same, and was amply repaid for the toilsome 
 ascent by the enchanting view obtained from the 
 spot where it is erected. 
 
 The church is an exceedingly ugly white 
 washed building, approached from the road by a 
 long flight of broad stone steps. The interior 
 has nothing in it worth seeing, but the eye turns 
 away from man's work to God's, and is satisfied.
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 171 
 
 The view is so extensive, commands such 
 miles of sea and land, that you feel almost in the 
 clouds. You look down on mountain tops, and 
 smiling valleys, and blooming gardens, until at 
 last in the far distance, the eye rests on Funchal, 
 girt by its belt of azure sea. Behind, still 
 higher mountains are piled, but the atmosphere 
 is so tiransparently clear that the tops appear 
 above the lower clouds. 
 
 The padre lives near his church, and pre- 
 sented us each with a choice bouquet from his 
 garden, inviting us at the same time to rest in 
 his summer house. I could not help envying 
 him his domain, lonely as it was, and thinking 
 how beautiful the scene before us must look, 
 lighted up by the rising sun, or flooded by moon- 
 light. What a long column of silver or gold must 
 dance on the distant ocean ; what gleams of light, 
 and black shadows, on mount, valley and tree L
 
 172 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIKA 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In tlie beginning of February I received a 
 summons from my husband to join him in 
 Africa, so, hastily making my arrangements, 
 I left Madeira in the mail steamer for the west 
 coast. 
 
 I embarked in the midst of the greatest 
 deluge of rain that I have ever seen out of the 
 tropics. 
 
 The harbour was crested with foam, and the 
 task of getting into the boat, which was to con- 
 vey me on board, was by no means a pleasant
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 173 
 
 one. I expected every instant to see it capsized 
 in the great rolling breakers, but I fortunately 
 got on board the steamer without a wetting, 
 though feeling very discouraged at such an out- 
 set to my voyage. 
 
 The storm raged throughout the night, and 
 for a time we were in great danger and narrowly 
 escaped losing one of our boats. Towards morn- 
 ing, however, the sky cleared, and we entered 
 the harbour of Teneriffe with a rough sea, but 
 brilliant sunshine; dark, heavy clouds shut out 
 the peak from our view, which was as great a 
 disappointment to me, as anything could be in my 
 sea-sick and miserable condition. 
 
 The island looks very beautiful from the 
 harbour, but I was too ill to go on shore as I had 
 intended, so was obliged to content myself by 
 looking on the strangely shaped hills, over 
 which the black clouds were scudding at mad 
 speed. 
 
 Teneriffe is not nearly so fertile looking as_
 
 174 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 Madeira, the eye missing the luxuriant gardens," 
 and groups of trees, but the form of the hills is 
 very grand and wild, and a tree would seem 
 almost out of place. 
 
 After a delay of a few hours we resumed 
 our voyage, the weather becoming every day 
 hotter, and the air losing the clearness and 
 purity that makes the climate of Madeira so 
 delicious. 
 
 The atmosphere as we approached the Gambia 
 assumed a reddish hue, and a hot mist hung like 
 a low cloud on the horizon. This appearance in 
 the air is caused by the particles of red sand from 
 the great desert, which are blown to the coast 
 by the Harmattan wind, a hot easterly blast 
 that seems to scorch the skin. 
 
 On the eighth day from Teneriffe we reached 
 the low shores of Bathurst, the first glimpse of 
 African shore that I had seen. It looks very 
 uninviting from the water, with its flat dull 
 looking beach and ugly houses almost rising from
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 175 
 
 the water's edge; I believe, however, that there 
 are some fine houses in the town, and a good 
 trade is done here in palm oil, and ground nuts. 
 
 A great quantity of the latter were shipped, 
 and I was induced from curiosity to taste one of 
 the nuts, but found it so exceedingly nasty, that 
 I did not repeat the experiment. 
 
 I have heard they are a great article of food 
 amongst the inhabitants, and they are also given 
 to pigs and poultry. 
 
 The Gambia is said to be one of the most un- 
 healthy spots on the coast, and it has the appear- 
 ance of being so, with its low swampy shores 
 barely rising from the water. 
 
 A few negroes came on board, but they seemed 
 a far more civilised set than those farther down 
 the coast, and therefore not half so amusing 
 and interesting. 
 
 After one day in this broiling harbour, we 
 again proceeded on our voyage, and some days 
 elapsed before we came in sight of Sierra Leone.
 
 176 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 This is a lovely spot, with wooded heights, and 
 blue shadowy mountains, taking the form of a 
 lion couchant, and the harbour is a beautiful 
 sheet of water, but the heat of it is intense, shut 
 in, as it is, by high hills on every side excepting 
 one. 
 
 The steamer had no sooner anchored than we 
 were surrounded by the long canoes from shore, 
 filled with natives, who kept up the most inces- 
 sant gibbering and singing. 
 
 I was looking over the side of the vessel with 
 my little girl, watching the swift paddling of a 
 very large canoe, when we were startled by sud- 
 denly becoming the object of an ovation. Twenty 
 pairs of wild, gleaming eyes were fixed on us, and 
 the men then burst out into an extempore song, of 
 which my little girl and myself were the subject. 
 
 These songs are nothing but a repetition of 
 the same words, all chanted together in a sort of 
 wild recitative, and not without a certain 
 musical cadence.
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 177 
 
 I went on shore with some of my fellow pas- 
 sengers to have a peep at the town, and was 
 much pleased with its general appearance. We 
 went to some of the principal shops, and finally 
 strolled through the market-place, which was 
 crowded with buyers and sellers. 
 
 The most picturesque groups met the eye at 
 every turn, and as every tribe has its distinct 
 costume, our walk was a most interesting one. 
 
 Some of the men were very handsome, with 
 fine, regular features and stately figures. Most 
 of them wore the wide Turkish trouser and 
 a toga flowing gracefully from one shoulder, with 
 white or coloured turbans twisted round their 
 heads. 
 
 Some of these togas were snow white, others 
 crimson, or striped orange and green, and alto- 
 gether they formed groups that any painter 
 would have loved to sketch. 
 
 The women were almost equally picturesque, 
 with their brilliant handkerchiefs knotted round 
 
 N
 
 178 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIEA 
 
 their heads, and their suits of many colours, but 
 their faces were not nearly so handsome as the 
 men's. 
 
 The market is well supplied with heaps of 
 tempting fruit and vegetables, all ridiculously 
 cheap. One of the passengers hired a boy with 
 a basket to make some purchases, and to our great 
 amusement we found presently two boys in our 
 train, the smallest of them having been hired by 
 the other to do his work. It was so truly African 
 that we all laughed. 
 
 At one of the stalls we saw a strange sight — 
 a black woman in a rage ; I thought at first she 
 was mad, and did not at all like getting into 
 her neighbourhood, but we were told by the by- 
 standers that her state was only caused by passion, 
 another market women having insulted her. She 
 paced up and down near her stall like an enraged 
 hyena, uttering the most fearful yells, and what 
 must have been imprecations, only we for- 
 tunately did not understand her dreadful Ian--
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 17^ 
 
 guage. Her face was distorted in tlie most 
 frightful manner, and she flung her long bony 
 arms about like a maniac. I never saw such a 
 terrible exhibition of savage rage, but fortunately 
 the object of her wrath was out of her reach, or 
 I am sure murder would have been committed. 
 
 On our way to the house of one of the Sierra 
 Leone missionaries, where we were going to spend 
 the day, we passed the newly-built cathedral, a 
 large, but ugly yellow building, which I have 
 heard has cost a great sum of money, with very 
 little to show for it in the way of beauty or' 
 decoration. 
 
 Sierra Leone looks like one large garden, with 
 its broad, red gravel walks, and groups of trees. 
 In many of the streets these last have been left 
 on each side of the way, making delightful 
 shady avenues, intermingled with prettily built 
 houses, all intertwined with flowering creepers, 
 and each with their wide portico. The missionary's 
 
 N 2
 
 180 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 house was very pretty, surrounded by its garden, 
 and with plenty of large windows and doors to 
 admit the breeze. 
 
 When the heat of the day was past, we sallied 
 out to see the English chapel and school-house; 
 the former is a very plain wooden building, inno- 
 cent of all adornment, but well ventilated and 
 capable of accommodating a great many people. 
 The schools are flourishing, as the natives of 
 Sierra Leone are very anxious to give their 
 children some education, but we had not time to 
 visit them. 
 
 After taking a short walk in the environs, 
 which are very pretty, we returned on board our 
 ship, just as the short twilight was giving place 
 to night. 
 
 The heat was tremendous on board that night, 
 and aggravated by the coal dust, which impreg- 
 nated the whole air, the ship having coaled in 
 our absence.
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 181 
 
 We were glad next morning, at an early hour, 
 to bid adieu to this lovely, though broiling 
 place, hoping to find a cooler breeze at sea. The 
 difference, however, was very slight, and for the 
 next two days the fierce rays of the sun seemed 
 to pierce to the very marrow of our bones. The 
 tar melted betwen the boards of the deck, and 
 not a breath of air stirred the unruffled sea, 
 which reflected back the glare of the blue heavens, 
 until the sight ached. Strong men reclined on 
 the straw chairs on deck, gasping for breath, 
 and an almost unbroken silence prevailed. 
 
 It was too hot either to speak, eat, or sleep, 
 the three great means of passing time on board 
 ship ; smoking even, seemed at a discount, and 
 so the weary hours crept on, until Cape Patmas 
 came to view. 
 
 A cooler breeze now springing up, every one 
 revived under its influence, and crowded to the 
 side nearest land to have a look at the seaport of 
 Liberia.
 
 182 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 Crowds of canoes immediately put off from 
 land, and we were surrounded by real bona fide 
 savages, men adorned with featliers stuck in 
 their wool, and strange looking armlets, and 
 anklets of bone, and beads, with no other cloth- 
 ing worth speaking of. 
 
 They were the most wonderful swimmers I 
 ever saw ; the great waves constantly upset their 
 light canoes, but they would swim after them, 
 right them again, and scramble in, just as if 
 nothing had happened. 
 
 We were soon boarded by a crowd of these 
 wild looking men, all grinning and gesticulating 
 like monkeys; some of them came with a few 
 vegetables and fruit for sale, but the greater part 
 w^ere empty handed, evidently only coming for 
 the sake of the expedition. 
 
 i We only stayed a few hours in this place, and 
 therefore were unable to go on shore, even 
 had it looked sufficiently inviting to tempt us. 
 It struck me as being very ugly and un-
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF APRICA. 183 
 
 interesting after Sierra Leone, the land much 
 lower, and less wooded, but higher than that of 
 the Gambia. 
 
 I have heard that the free blacks are getting 
 on very well in their republic of Liberia, and that 
 many of the merchants are amassing large 
 fortunes, and send their children to England to 
 be educated. Many from Sierra Leone are now 
 settled there, and are helping to civilise the 
 original inhabitants. The only class who elude all 
 endeavours of this kind are the Kroomen, chiefly 
 known on the coast as boatmen, who lead a wild 
 roving life, and who are as untameable as the 
 billows on which they live. 
 
 After weighing anchor, a number of these men 
 still continued on board, having left their canoes 
 under the care of some friends in the harbour. 
 Cape Patmas was fiding in the distance, but still 
 they lingered, until a stern order from the cap- 
 tain made them rush to the side of the vessel 
 and leap overboard like so many deer. They
 
 184 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 swam with astonishing rapidity to the distant 
 harbour, their round, black heads dotting the 
 bkie sea in every direction. 
 
 In three days we arrived at Cape Coast, con- 
 sidered one of the most deadly spots in Africa. 
 
 It has a fearfully hot, dusty look, seen from the 
 water. Not a blade of grass, not a green tree 
 grows on its barren soil, and the great granite 
 castle, built right down on the sea shore, glares 
 with a sort of white heat. 
 
 The land is fringed with a line of raging 
 breakers, disagreeable to cross, even in the dry 
 season, but dangerous during the rains. 
 
 The great heat and difficulty of landing de- 
 terred me from making the attempt, though some 
 ladies on board did venture to do so. 
 
 There is nothing of interest to be seen beyond 
 the castle, and the grave of poor L. E. L., to 
 which spot travellers generally make a pil- 
 grimage. 
 
 While the passengers were on shore a stiff
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 185 
 
 breeze arose, wliich lashed the harbour into a very 
 tumultuous state, and rendered the getting on 
 board the steamer again so very disagreeable an 
 operation, that I was heartily glad I had not 
 ventured on shore when I saw the poor ladies 
 scarcely able to stand in the narrow canoe, and 
 surrounded by a set of excited gesticulating 
 savages. 
 
 They were almost as wild a looking set of 
 men as those at Cape Patmas, but a little 
 tamed down by frequent association with the 
 white man. 
 
 A great chief came off in the evening to 
 pay a visit to the steamer, gorgeously ap- 
 parelled, and looking very dignified under his 
 huge crimson umbrella. He sat by himself, 
 talking to no one, and looking very much like 
 a great painted idol, so immoveable was his posi- 
 tion. 
 
 One day's steaming brought us to Accra, a
 
 186 A GLIMPSE AT MADE[EA 
 
 fresher, greener place than Cape Coast, but very 
 uninteresting in appearance. 
 
 I believe good cattle and horses are obtained 
 here, the pasturage being very fair for the coast, 
 and the place is famous for its lovely birds, 
 cages full of which are brought to the steamers 
 for sale. 
 
 Some exquisite little creatures were kindly 
 presented to my child by one of the passengers. 
 Their cage was very small, but twenty tiny 
 birds found room in it. Ten of them rested to- 
 gether on each perch. The upper tier were jet 
 black, with bright yellow bills and feet, and were 
 round and plump, but no bigger than humming 
 birds. The other ten were still more beautiful, 
 with dove-coloured wings and breasts, and bright 
 scarlet heads and beaks, and were as small, but 
 more delicately-shaped than the black ones. 
 
 To my great annoyance, the slight cane cage 
 in which they were confined got broken to pieces
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 187 
 
 between Accra and Lagos, and all my little 
 prisoners made their escape. 
 
 I was surprised to find how much cooler it 
 became as we neared Lagos ; a strong breeze re- 
 freshed us, and though the sun was still hotter 
 than was pleasant, we no longer suffered from the 
 stifling heat we had experienced at Sierra Leone. 
 
 It is only one day's voyage from Accra to 
 Lagos, and great was my joy when a low yellow 
 shore, scarcely perceptible in the distance, was 
 pointed out to me as my destination. 
 
 No large ship can enter the harbour, on ac- 
 count of a great sandbank, which stretches nearly 
 across its mouth, so our steamer anchored in the 
 roadstead, and as the sea was very calm, we were 
 not rolled about in the usually distracting manner. 
 
 A slight line of foam accross the entrance 
 of the harbour showed us where the breakers 
 were, ready to be lashed into fury when the 
 rainy season commenced. It is dangerous, even 
 in the summer, for any boat except a canoe to
 
 188 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 pass througli that track of foam, but occasionally 
 men-of-war boats do venture, and several melan- 
 choly accidents happened in consequence. 
 
 My husband came in a large, well-manned 
 canoe to fetch me, and we passed the bar with 
 perfect safety, the last wave carrying us with a 
 dash into the calm, still harboui- of Lagos.
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 189 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 My new home commanded a view of a noble 
 sheet of water, with low green shores nearly en- 
 circling it. The houghs of the trees dipped in the 
 waves, and the distant river, narrowing as it 
 went, gleamed like silver amid the foliage. 
 
 My first impressions of the place were not un- 
 favorable; above all I was pleased with my 
 house, so freshly painted, and adorned for my 
 reception, with its nice piece of garden full of 
 oleander and acacia trees ; the latter appearing 
 to grow wild in Lagos,
 
 190 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 The rooms seemed deliciously cool and pleasant 
 after tlie burning hot ship I had left, and I 
 enjoyed the wide roofed verandah, which ran the 
 whole length of the house. 
 
 A broad, well kept road slightly raised from 
 the beach is the one promenade in Lagos, and the 
 merchants' houses are built a little way back, 
 commanding a fine view of the harbour and 
 sea. 
 
 This is the new part of the town, and it is 
 considered far healthier than the old, which lies 
 up the river, and is almost entirely inhabited 
 by natives, whose dirty habits increase the 
 natural unhealthiness of the spot. 
 
 These houses near the harbour mouth are 
 well built, most of them surrounded by pretty 
 gardens, tastefully laid out, but the rearing of 
 flowers requires a great deal of care and atten- 
 tion on account of the sandy soil and scorching 
 
 sun. 
 
 The beautiful mansion built by an Italian^
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 191 
 
 merchant, is worthy of mention, but seems al- 
 most out of phxce at Lagos. I was told that the 
 owner had brought Italian workmen from Genoa 
 to complete the inside of it. The floors are 
 nearly all of inlaid marble, and pictures by the 
 best modern Italian masters adorn the walls, 
 most of them battle pieces taken during the late 
 war of independence. The house is beautifully 
 furnished throughout, and the rooms so large 
 and lofty that the heat of the climate is rendered 
 endurable. 
 
 During the time I was at Lagos, there were 
 no streets properly so called, nothing but sandy 
 lanes with scattered houses, built at each side, 
 without any regard to regularity, and it was 
 an arduous undertaking to get from my house to 
 church, at mid-day, through the scorching sand, 
 which seemed to burn the feet, though it was 
 only a five minutes' walk. 
 
 The latter is a rude building with rough mud
 
 192 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 walls of great thickness and a sloping thatched 
 roof. 
 
 There are a few pews at the side of the church 
 nearest the altar, but the rest of it is occupied by 
 rows of benches entirely filled by school children 
 and the native population. 
 
 I was much interested one Sunday in hearing 
 the communion service read in the native lan- 
 guage. It is a soft beautiful dialect full of vowels 
 apparently, and yet very forcible. There were 
 crowds of communicants, but it struck me they 
 came more out of curiosity, than from any real 
 understanding of the meaning of the Lord's 
 Supper ; and this opinion was afterwards con- 
 firmed by what I heard of the so called converts 
 to Christianity. 
 
 A dreadful old woman, a mass of leprosy, was 
 amongst the communicants, and took her place 
 with others at the altar. The horrible disease 
 was additionally revolting in contrast to her
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 193 
 
 black skin, but her neighbours did not seem to 
 dislike her proximity in the least, which struck 
 me as very strano-e, and unnatural. 
 
 I had heard much of the natural talent of the 
 negroes for music and singing, and therefore was 
 much disappointed at the way in which the 
 hymns and psalms were murdered. There was 
 no organ, but the school children howled in the 
 most discordant tones, without the slightest 
 attempt at either time or tune, in a manner that 
 suggested ideas not quite consistent with 
 Christian charity. The sermon is generally 
 preached in Ens.Tlish, but occasionally it is inter- 
 preted sentence by sentence, for the benefit of the 
 natives, an exceedingly tedious process to listen 
 to. 
 
 There is a Wesleyan Church also estab- 
 lished in Lagos which I have heard is better 
 attended by the natives than the Episcopal. It 
 is strange that the converts to Christianity 
 
 o
 
 194 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 amongst the African race are nearly all dissen- 
 ters. 
 
 I was surprised to find that there was no 
 Eoman Catholic church in the place, notwith- 
 standing that the greater number of Europeans 
 settled in Lagos are of that faith, and when 
 speaking of this to a Portuguese merchant, he 
 only gave an expressive shrug, and said with 
 a smile, 
 
 " Ah ! we have not time for all that here.'' 
 An answer that made a deep impression on me, 
 in a place where every one is living in the shadow 
 of death. 
 
 I have been told, however, that this feeling 
 is common in all the places on the west coast. 
 
 Knowing that their lives must necessarily be 
 short ones, most of the Europeans drown care 
 by incessant occupation or amusement. One 
 very sickly season in Sierra Leone was flimous 
 fur its number of gay balls, and recreations of
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 195 
 
 every kind, tliougli many were dancing on the 
 edge of tlie grave. 
 
 A gun boat is always stationed in the harbour 
 for the protection of the white inhabitants, but 
 the larger men-of-war and merchant's ships are 
 anchored outside the bar, where they roll about 
 in a distractino; manner. 
 
 Occasionally the officers come on shore, but 
 not often in the rainy season, on account of the 
 difficulty and danger of crossing the bar, so no 
 wonder the place is held in abhorrence by the 
 whole navy. 
 
 An unusual number of servants are required 
 in the African household, however small the 
 family, on account of their incorrigible laziness, 
 which exceeds anything I ever saw in other 
 countries. 
 
 First in the establishment is the butler, who is 
 a very august personage, combining in his person 
 the characters of purveyor, housekeeper, footman, 
 and valet. He does all the marketing, and has 
 
 2
 
 196 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 whole and sole care of the cowries — the shell 
 money of the coast. 
 
 Next to him in importance is the cook, a per- 
 fect autocrot in the kitchen, who has usually two 
 underlings to help him. The black men are 
 generally first rate cooks, taking a keen interest 
 in their " art," and exciting the most languid 
 appetite by their tempting made dishes. 
 
 Women servants are seldom kept unless there 
 are children in the fiimily, and the good ones are 
 few and far between. They are even more lazy 
 than the men, and are careless, dirty, and cold 
 hearted. 
 
 The cowrie, or shell money, is most trouble- 
 some to a new arrival, it being next to impos- 
 sible to remember how many of these minute 
 shells go to a sixpence or a dollar. 
 
 One day soon after my arrival I wished for 
 some change for a sovereign, and told our major 
 domo he could bring it me in cowries. Soon 
 after, to my astonishment, I saw the man return,
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 
 
 I^ 
 
 accompanied by two others, each bearing a heavy 
 sack on his shoulder. This was my change ! 
 
 •For one week or so, I attempted house keep- 
 ing, but gave it up in despair on account of the 
 cowries, so our head man had everything in his 
 hands again; much to his triumph, no doubt, 
 as he secretly rejoiced over my discomfiture. 
 
 The climate in the dry season in not very 
 unhealthy in Lagos. From November to the 
 end of April fevers are rare, and I heard very 
 little of any other illness. The scorching 
 heat of the sun is tempered by a refresh- 
 ing sea breeze, and the evenings are very 
 pleasant. 
 
 From five to seven was my time for exercise, 
 visiting, or sailing on the harbour, which is a 
 beautiful sheet of water. 
 
 We had one very pleasant pic-nic to the great 
 sandbank at the mouth of the harbour, on which 
 the rolling waves of the Atlantic burst with such 
 fury.
 
 198 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 The Lagos boatmen have covered this place 
 with offerings to their fetishes, in order to pro- 
 pitiate their idols when they cross the breakers. 
 
 Two poles are placed slantways in the sand, 
 and over these a small piece of canvass is ex- 
 tended, forming a kind of tent. On the ground 
 beneath are arranged the offerings, which con- 
 sist of all sorts of rubbish, bits of bone, old beads, 
 shells, scraps of crockery, and coloured rags, the 
 poor men believing that the fetish will be pleased 
 by such delicate attentions, and preserve their 
 lives from the fury of the waves. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the rising generation 
 will profit by the missionary schools now estab- 
 lished, and become real converts to Christianity, 
 which their fathers, as a general rule, are far 
 from being. 
 
 There is a strange society amongst the natives, 
 of which only men know the secret. I fancy it 
 must be a species of free masonry, and death 
 is the penalty of revealing its mysteries to any
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 199 
 
 woman A painful incident occurred while I 
 was at Lagos in connection with this society. 
 
 I was sitting in the verandah one soft, balmy 
 evening, enjoying the cool breeze, when I sud- 
 denly was startled by the sound of hurried 
 naked footsteps up the stairs, and on turning 
 round saw on the landing a tall, powerful-look- 
 ing black man, who immediately threw himself 
 on his knees, bending his forehead to the ground, 
 as the custom is when a favour is asked. At the 
 same time a flood of passionate words poured 
 from his lips^ not one syllable of which did I 
 understand. 
 
 My first impression was that he was mad, but 
 on hastily summoning one of the servants who 
 understood his dialect, I discovered that he 
 was an unfortunate fugitive, petitioning for a 
 night's shelter and concealment from his 
 pursuers. 
 
 It appeared that he belonged to this mysterious 
 society, and had, like another Samson, told his
 
 200 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIKA 
 
 secret to a Delilah. The fact having become 
 known, his companions were hunting him, to 
 put him to some cruel death, and he now im- 
 plored me to protect him from their vengeance. 
 
 My husband was unfortunately absent from 
 home at the time, so I had no one to advise me 
 what to do, but I could not refuse the poor man 
 a night's shelter, and I told him he could occupy 
 one of the outhouses, until he thought the pursuit 
 was over. 
 
 On the following morning, as I was taking my 
 early stroll in the garden, the man again beset 
 my path, prostrating himself as before, with 
 every sign of abject terror in his face ; I tried 
 by signs to reassure him of his safety, and again 
 summoned my cook to my aid, who led him 
 away to his shed, apparently in a calmer frame of 
 mind. 
 
 I had scarcely returned to the house, however, 
 before I heard a great commotion in the yard, 
 and looking out, saw the unfortunate man, with
 
 iLND THE WEST COAST OF APEICA. 201 
 
 a knife in his hand, cutting himself in every 
 direction, while all the servants were vainly at- 
 tempting to wrench it from his grasp ; he seemed 
 to have the strength and desperation of a mad- 
 man, but at length he was overpowered, though 
 not before he had inflicted on himself several 
 severe, though not mortal wounds. 
 
 How terrible must have been the fate he 
 dreaded from the hands of his own countrymen, 
 when he tried to destroy himself to escape 
 it! 
 
 Intercession was made to the native king of 
 Lagos in his behalf, who granted him a pardon, 
 and sent an escort to take him to a place of 
 safety. 
 
 I believe he was smuggled out of the town at 
 dead of night ; at all events I never heard of the 
 unhappy man again, or if he eluded the vengeance 
 of his pursurers. I rather doubted myself the 
 power of even the king to save him. 
 
 The native chiefs have a very poor opinion of
 
 202 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 a woman's power of keeping a secret, and when 
 the Alake of Abbeokuta holds a war council, no 
 women are allowed outside their houses, an edict 
 being proclaimed to that effect on the preceding 
 day. 
 
 The native king of Lagos was a good tempered 
 easy going sort of man, much given to pomp 
 and show, but quite under Fnglish rule. 
 
 He lived in the native part of the town, in a 
 large house called a palace, and possessed a 
 hundred wives or so, and innumerable suits of 
 apparel. Visitors were always regaled with 
 champagne, whenever they went to see him, 
 and I have heard he kept a most luxurious 
 table. 
 
 His wives are all dressed in a particular shade 
 of blue cotton cloth, and when they walk abroad, 
 any man who chances to meet them, has to shade 
 his eyes as they pass, or get out of their way as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 I had once a good view of the king in his gala
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 203 
 
 costume. He came, with a large retinue, to pay 
 an official visit to my husband after the return 
 of the latter from a successful expedition, in April, 
 1861, against the King of Porto Novo, whose 
 country was a Yerj nest of slavers. 
 
 He arrived by water, and long before the first 
 canoe came in sight round the bend of the river, 
 we heard the din and crash of tums-tums, drums, 
 and other noisy and discordant instruments^ 
 mingled with yells and shouts. 
 
 It was a pretty sight as canoe after canoe glided 
 down the broad shining stream, gorgeous with 
 many coloured umbrellas of the different chiefs. 
 
 Gold, crimson and purple flashed alternately 
 in the burning sun, the discordant sound becom- 
 ing louder and louder, and mingling strangely 
 with the shrieks and shouts of tlie excited popu- 
 lace on the shore. 
 
 At length the king landed, walking with ma- 
 jestic strides under a huge umbrella of some rich 
 material.
 
 204 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 His dress consisted of a green, brocaded robe, 
 reaching below his knees, Turkish trousers, and 
 a perfect breast-plate of coral chains, hanging in 
 thick coils from throat to waist. Surmounting 
 all was a large plumed cocked hat, which looked 
 stranglj out of keeping with his bare heels and 
 oriental dress. 
 
 Behind him came a troop of chiefs, all the 
 principal ones having umbrellas held over their 
 heads by their attendants, but they evidently had 
 carefully abstained from outshining their king in 
 their attire. 
 
 Most of them were simply wrapped in snow- 
 white togas of very fine texture, flung gracefully 
 over the shoulder, and descending to the heels. 
 
 Their number, and their swift, panther-like 
 tread, gave me a sudden panic as I saw them 
 enter the door, and heard their naked footsteps 
 rushing up the stairs, and I ignominiously beat a 
 retreat into my own room, and locked the door 
 just as his majesty's green robe came in sight.
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 205 
 
 My room being just opposite the drawing- 
 room, and having a hT.rge key-hole, I was enabled 
 to have as good a view as if I had remained in 
 the verandah, and with a greater feeling of com- 
 fort to myself. 
 
 The reception room not being large enough to 
 hold the crowd that poured in, a number of white 
 robed chiefs squatted down the whole length of 
 the passage, some resting their backs against my 
 door, thus giving me a nearer view than they 
 imagined of their bronze faces and wild piercing 
 eyes. 
 
 My husband, with his interpreter by his side, 
 received the king at the door of the room, and 
 led him with great ceremony to the sofa, which 
 happened fortunately to be just opposite my 
 keyhole. 
 
 After an interchange of compliments, which 
 lasted about a quarter of an hour, as every- 
 thing had to be interpreted, the king rose, 
 salaamed profoundly, then rushed down the stairs
 
 206 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 witli the same panther-like speed with which 
 he had ascended, his retinue flying after him 
 lielter skelter, like a troop of white-winged 
 birds. 
 
 I must confess a delightful feeling of relief came 
 over me as I unlocked my door and joined my 
 husband in the verandah, when I got finely 
 quizzed for my panic. 
 
 As the men in the canoes saw the king and 
 his retinue emerge from the house they recom- 
 menced their distracting music louder than ever, 
 and this continued until the winding of the 
 river bore them and their gay umbrellas out 
 of our sight. 
 
 On another occasion, my husband being absent 
 from home, I had to receive a deputation from 
 the King of Abbeokuta, who sent him a lai-ge 
 white native cloth in token of amity and 
 respect. 
 
 The deputation consisted of about half-a-dozen 
 head men, each wrapped in his vrhite toga, ac-
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFKICA. 207 
 
 companied by a civilised black man, in tall and 
 tightly-fitting clothes, who acted as their inter- 
 preter. 
 
 This man spoke such execrable English that I 
 was obliged to send for our own interpreter in 
 order to understand his jargon. 
 
 He told me, for instance, that the king, his 
 master, had sent a fine white clerh to my hus- 
 band as a token of his friendshij). I therefore 
 looked round at the group of swarthy visages 
 and wondered what had become of the white 
 clerk, when suddenly, at a given signal, the 
 piece of cloth was unfurled and exhibited. 
 
 It was of the size of a large bed coverlet, and 
 made of white cotton, beautifully interwoven with 
 a black scroll pattern. 
 
 After this had been duly admired, the ambas- 
 sadors crouched in a row along the passage, look- 
 ing like a set of stone effigies, so immoveable 
 were they in that strange posture. 
 
 Their wild, gleaming eyes were never taken off
 
 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 my face while the palaver was going on, but at 
 length tlie interpreter hinted that a glass of 
 spirits would not be unacceptable, so that it was 
 ordered, and each regaled himself with what 
 might be called a "stiff glass." 
 
 As they seemed inclined to stay longer than 
 I thought at all necessary, I rose, and put an end 
 to the interview, saying that I regretted I was 
 obliged to leave them. 
 
 They took the hint, and each giving me a pro- 
 found salaam, they gathered up their robes and 
 went their way, the talkative interpreter favour- 
 ing me at the last with a long speech, which was 
 utterly incomprehensible to me, but no doubt 
 was meant to be very complimentary. 
 « A black man in his white toga is an interest- 
 ing object, but clothed in a European coat he 
 loses at once his native dignity of air and becomes 
 vulgarised on the spot. 
 
 V
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 209 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The variety of races to be met with in Lagos, 
 is very interesting to a stranger. 
 
 There is a large Mahometan Community that, 
 come principally from the north of Africa and are_ 
 a fine set of men, with regular features, solemn 
 gleaming eyes, and most majestic bearing; 
 they always reminded me of bronze statues. 
 
 They all wear the toga, the turban, and- 
 Turkish trowser, and look additionally handsome- 
 contrasted with the negroes of the coast.
 
 210 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 The tribes from the interior of the country 
 are also very superior to the latter in appearance, 
 though their hue is jet black. 
 
 Their costume is very picturesque and more 
 showy than that of the Mahometans, consisting 
 frequently of togas of leopard skins, and brilliant 
 turbans of many dyes. 
 
 They are very good horsemen, regarding a 
 saddle and bridle as superfluities; and I have 
 seen them manage the most fiery steed with 
 nothing but their naked heels and strong brawny 
 arms. 
 
 The only African women that I admired were 
 some from Tripoli, who had accompanied their 
 lords and masters right across the interior. 
 
 They had beautifully soft dark eyes, with a 
 timid pleading expression, sad to see ; they were 
 dressed a VArahe, and the lower part of their 
 faces was quite concealed by the usual band of 
 white linen. 
 
 The principal man of the party was a splendid
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 211 
 
 looking Moor, such a man as Othello might 
 have been, about middle age, with a grizzled 
 beard, and the features of a fine statue; he had 
 the most dignified face imaginable, and seemed 
 to weigh every word before he uttered it. 
 
 He seemed much interested when my husband 
 told him he had been to the Eed Sea, and asked 
 a great many questions about the canal across 
 the Isthmus. ■ 
 
 The women never opened their lips, and seemed 
 to stand in great awe of their Othello. I tried 
 to interest them by presenting my little girl to 
 them, but they seemed too shy to take notice of 
 anything. 
 
 The lands of the King of Dahomey stretch 
 down as far as the harbour of Lagos, which 
 place he is always threatening to invade. We 
 saw on one occasion a chief who had just come 
 from his court, and he gave us a graphic account 
 of the wretch and his doings. 
 
 ^I asked him, through the interpreter, if the 
 
 p 2
 
 212 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIEA 
 
 Corps of Amazons was as brave and ferocious 
 as I had heard it described; his answer was 
 a prolonged "Whew — " and he dechired that 
 no man could stand against these female 
 warriors. 
 
 The system of talking through an interpreter 
 is very tedious, and I was forcibly struck by the 
 superior brevity of the English language over 
 the African, A short sentence from either of us 
 would take the interpreter several minutes to 
 repeat, and the chiefs answers, which appeared 
 to us interminable, were given in English in a 
 few words. This dreadful prolixity of the 
 languages in Africa makes a visit from any of 
 the chiefs a very tiresome affair, and one is 
 wearied out with listening to an appar- 
 ently endless flow of words, and surprised 
 and indignant to find how easily in English 
 the meaning could have been conveyed in a. 
 few terse sentences, But Africa is the very., 
 land of palaver. 'The inhabitants, I suppose,
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 213 
 
 tiy to compensate themselves for their want of 
 books, by doing an immense deal of talking. • 
 
 Some of the chiefs from the interior were sur- 
 prised and delighted when they first saw my 
 little girl, never having met with a white child 
 before. Her golden hair and white skin drew 
 forth no end of ejaculations, and they seemed to 
 look upon her as something more than mortal. 
 
 A sad story is told of the disappearance of a 
 little child in one of the Dutch settlements on 
 the coast, a daughter, I believe, of one of the 
 officials. 
 
 The child was taking a walk with her nurse 
 in some rather lonely spot, when she was sur- 
 rounded and carried off by a party of natives, 
 and nothing was ever heard of her after fate. It 
 is supposed she was taken to the interior, where 
 the foot of the white man has never penetrated. 
 
 Whilst at Lagos I made the acquaintance of 
 the Rev. Mr. Crowther, the present Bishop of 
 Niger, and heard him preach an excellent sermon
 
 214 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIKA 
 
 at the English Church. He seems a truly good 
 and clever man, and has translated a great portion 
 of the Bible into theYoi'raba language; a task of 
 great dijBBcultj, as the people had no written 
 language. 
 
 I was sorry to hear that a great many of these 
 valuable manuscripts, which had cost him years 
 of labour, have been destroyed by the great fire 
 which occurred in Lagos after I left the place. 
 
 The rainy season at Lagos the year 1 was there 
 was ushered in by a tremendous typhoon, a most 
 wonderful and beautiful thing to witness. We were 
 warned of its approach by the storm signal on the 
 west coast, a long streak of silvery whiteness seem- 
 ing to rest on the horizon. The sky became inky 
 black, and the sea was of the same murky hue, 
 making the crested waves gleam like snow. 
 
 I stood in the verandah watching the approach 
 of the wild wind, and was lost in awe and admir- 
 ation of the beautiful sight presented by the har- 
 bour. In a moment the wind seemed to burst
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 215 
 
 from above and lash the waves into fury. They 
 sped before the typhoon at lightning speed, in 
 a white line of foam, and the whole sheet of 
 water, before so dark and quiet, became violently 
 agitated. 
 
 I was so absorbed in the beauty of the spec- 
 tacle that I forgot how near the wind was upon ns, 
 when suddenly it clapped against the side of the 
 house with a rushing sound, indescribably grand, 
 and I found myself nearly blown oif the verandah. 
 I managed, however, to rush in at the open 
 window in time to escape its full fury, and heard 
 the windows being hastily shut all over the 
 house. 
 
 In less time than I have taken to describe it 
 the typhoon had come and gone up the river, 
 and a deluge of rain descended, which soon had 
 the effect of quieting the tumultuous sea. 
 
 Provisions are good and abundant in Lagos, 
 in comparison with what they are in some parts
 
 216 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIEA 
 
 of the coast, "but beef is almost an unknown 
 luxury, and vegetables and fruit very scarce in 
 the dry season; poultry, however, is plentiful, 
 guinea-fowls especially, and the mutton, though 
 small, has a very fine flavour. 
 
 The native cooks make very good bread, using 
 the palm wine for leaven. The latter, when in a 
 state of fermentation, is much drunk by the 
 natives, and is, I have heard, a very intoxicating 
 beverage. 
 
 The natives live almost entirely upon the 
 cassada root, which is made into a thick gruel. 
 I used often to see our servants all seated round 
 a huge bowl of this stuff, on the ground, each 
 dipping in his spoon in his turn, and ap- 
 parently never tired day after day of the same 
 fare. 
 
 We were not at all troubled in our house by 
 insects, which surprised me greatly until I noticed 
 the quanties of lizards about the garden. The
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OP AFRICA. 217 
 
 latter are beautiful, from tlieir gorgeous colours. 
 I have seen them of every shade of crimson, blue, 
 green, and yellow, and they were so tame that 
 they would scarcely move from my path as I 
 approached them. They are very useful crea- 
 tures, as they devour every species of insect, and 
 are perfectly harmless themselves, so I took 
 them under my especial protection. 
 
 After the typhoon, the rains commenced in 
 Lagos, but did not fairly set in till the end of 
 May. From that time till November, the pas- 
 sage from the hai'bour is a most dangerous one ; 
 many lives are lost each season in going to and 
 from the ships, and the offerings to the fetish 
 become very numerous. 
 
 I was obliged, however, to cross this terrible 
 bar in the month of June, when I returned to 
 England, but the Commander of the small gun- 
 boat in the harbour assm^ed me his vessel could 
 make the venture with perfect safety ; and hav- 
 ing offered to t^ke n^e outside^ I prefeiTed to
 
 218 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 cross the breakers in her, to the certain risk of 
 an open boat. 
 
 On the 10th of June, I embarked with my 
 little girl and her nurse. The sun shone 
 brilliantly through the wild drifting clouds, and 
 we saw distinctly the long line of breakers 
 through which we must pass to reach the Mail 
 Steamer. 
 
 It was a time of intense anxiety as we neared 
 that angry bar, especially as the poor old gun- 
 boat refused to answer her helm, trembling and 
 shivering at each shock, and sometimes seeming 
 to stand still. 
 
 The people on board the Mail Steamer were 
 meanwhile watching us through their telescopes, 
 expecting every instant that the vessel would 
 be swallowed up in that sea of foam. Hope 
 had, indeed, faded from every face on deck, and 
 our doom seemed inevitable, when the little 
 vessel, as if guided by an Unseen Hand, more 
 powerful than man's, rushed with a sudden
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 219 
 
 impetus into smooth water, and we were 
 safe. 
 
 The passage is so narrow mid-way, that the 
 slightest deviation from the course places the 
 ship in the greatest peril ; the breakers gleam 
 and rage on every side, and the waves seem 
 eager for their prey. The water also swarms 
 with sharks, so that even the best swimmer has 
 little chance of life in case of being ship- 
 wrecked. 
 
 Since Lagos has become a British possession, 
 I have heard that great improvements have been 
 made. The streets are widened, and many new 
 houses built ; but nothing can alter its deadly 
 climate, fit only for the black race to live in, 
 though not worse, I believe, than Sierra Leone, 
 and Cape Coast. 
 
 The curse bestowed on Ham seems to cling to 
 his country, fertile and beautiful as it is in many 
 parts, and wherever white men settle in it,
 
 220 A GLIMPSE AT MADEIRA 
 
 there hangs perpetually the dark shadow of 
 death. 
 
 Tlie air is full of farewells to the dying and 
 mournings for the dead. The whole land rings 
 with tales of bloodshed, oppression, and wicked- 
 ness of every kind, and as long as the native 
 rulers are uncivilized and unchristianized, slavery 
 will never cease. The natives consider exchang- 
 ing men for goods a. perfectly fair sort of barter, 
 and in war the victorious party make slaves of 
 their prisoners as a legitimate part of their 
 success. The love of enslaving his fellow beings 
 is also so innate in man, that even freed 
 slaves, if they get on in this world, spend their 
 first spare money in buying a slave. Though 
 theexportation of these unhappy beings may be 
 checked by the continued efforts of other 
 countries, slavery will, I fear, still exist in 
 Africa in a worse form than was ever known in 
 America or in the West Indies, until the civiliz-
 
 AND THE WEST COAST OF APEICA. 221 
 
 ing influence of Christianity has extended itself 
 over those melancholy tracts of land, where life 
 seems, at the best, to be so sternly devoid of that 
 grace which some would call poetry, but which 
 is, in truth, the higher form of such happiness 
 as the Creator intended for His people on 
 earth. 
 
 •— SS3''3f»9St65»'«S>— ^
 
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 Bt MRS. HIBBERT WARE. 
 
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 In 3 Yds. Post 8vo. (This day). 
 
 SOCIETY IN A GARRISON TOWN. 
 
 By the Author of " Myself and my Relatives," &c. 
 
 In 3 Vols. 31s ea. 
 THE TALK OF THE TOWN. 
 
 " It deals witli ordinary incidents and ordinary people, but they are 
 handled with a delicate reality which makes them almost works of 
 art. The author indicates much knowledge of human nature, and 
 possssses singular talent for drawing characters and working them up 
 with a degree of care and finish not often found in novels of the sea- 
 son." — Athenceum. 
 
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 pathos, graceful artistic work, subtle thought, and keen analysis .of 
 poor human nature." — Atlas. 
 
 In 3 Vols. 3l3 6ct. 
 
 THE BRIGHT TO-MORROW. 
 
 Br WALLACE J. HARDING, Escj.
 
 In 3 Vols , 31s. 6d. 
 
 MR. VERNON. 
 
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 Miss Austen's best characters." — Public Opmion. 
 
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 it is perfectly pure in tone." — The AUas. 
 
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 ** It is far above the average of contemporary novel literature. Its 
 great strength is the high dramatic force of the plot, and the rapidity 
 and vigour of its action. We do not remember a tale which has 
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 hance the skill evinced in the construction of the plot. All the dia- 
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 literature of fiction to persevere in the career she has thus satisfac- 
 torily inaugurated." — Morning Post. 
 
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 old Greek drama. The interost excited in the opening chapter is 
 never allowed to flag." — John Bull. 
 
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 the exigences of her plot, which is spiritedly carried out." — Observer, 
 
 '' A story of domestic life and its troubles. The plot is not com- 
 plicated, the situations are natural, the characters well drawn and 
 with strong individuality, the language is good and pure." — Brighton 
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 " This is a novel that presents something of what is best at once 
 in the old and the new school of English fiction. The language ia 
 pure and graceful, and the tone in wliich the story is told is calm and 
 equable, while the guilt and honour of the tale are not seen through a 
 softening veil of seutimentalism, but observe a strictly ethical pur- 
 pose." — Chester Courant. 
 
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 and his lighter sketches are amusing, while the main theme of the 
 hero's moral progress, under his increasing misfortunes, breathes a 
 true and noble lesson which we do not too often find iu modern fic- 
 tion " — Spectator. 
 
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 sensational pen, and the incidents follow naturally and pleasantly 
 through^'ut. Real satisfaction will be experience d by all who read 
 this novel." — Era. 
 
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 evidently bestowed considerable thought on the central idea and its 
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 bestowed on the delineation of his hero. Mr Wedmore has shown 
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 pool Albion. 
 
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 tickles the intellect."— Atlas. 
 
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 ' ' It does no little credit to the author." — Liverpool Albion. 
 
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 By the Author of " The Angle House," Ac; 
 
 " This is a story of uncommon character. The inward experiences 
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 her own, and her tragical end, are feelingly and touchinglj described." 
 •—Brighton Examiner. 
 
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 MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. 
 
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 THREE HISTORICAL PLAYS. 
 
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 AND 
 
 OFFA, KING OF MERCIA. 
 
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 Author of " The Bride of Rougemont," &c. 
 
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 By the Author of " Ireland and its Rulers." 
 
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 CIECLE OF LIGHT, 
 
 OR 
 
 DHAWALEGERI, 
 
 By H. p. MALET, Esq., 
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 " We do not hesitate to say that this is one of the most valuable 
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 ON CHANGE OF CLIMATE, 
 
 A GUIDE FOR TRAVELLERS IN PURSUIT OF HEALTH, 
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 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, ALGERIA. MOROCCO, FRANCE, ITALY, 
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 The Doctor's observations relate to the favourite haunts of English 
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 for the antiquarian, and for the man of letters. Dr. Madden has 
 rendered a necessary service to the profession and to the public upon 
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 ■np materials grotesque and pathetic, humorous and grave, in the 
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 THE HISTORY OFIRISH PERIODICAL 
 LITERATURE, 
 
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 By R. R. madden, M.R.I.A., &c. 
 
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 pendium of Irish History."— Law Times. 
 
 "Dr. Madden's volumes contain much curious matter." — Pall 
 Mall Gazette. 
 
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 to that of the empire." — Dublin Evening Mail. 
 
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 impartiality, must be obvious." — Observer. 
 
 "Dr. Madden'a book must find its way to the shelves of every 
 library worth the name." — Saunders' New Letter. 
 
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 amount of information on the social, literary, and political History 
 of Ireland."— Freeman's Journal 
 
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 this coutribution to its historical literature." — Warder.
 
 la 2 Yols. 2l8. 
 
 THE GRAND PACHA'S YACHT CRUISE 
 
 IN THE NILE. 
 
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 METEORS— METEORITES— CAVES AND THEIR CONTENTS- 
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 THE LITERARY LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
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 DURING THE LATE WAR, 
 
 By CAPTAIN EDWARD BOYS, 
 
 Royal Navy. 
 
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