Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/314



Bar of Istapa,—Fisheries,—Vampyres,—Rock of Mirandilla,—Alotenango,—Almolonga,—The two Volcanoes,—Ascent of the Volcan del Agua, &c.

Sapoti to Santa Rosa, and from Santa Rosa to Raudal, a distance of ahout two and a half leagues, the road is level, but obstructed by immense quantities of bushes and low shrubs. The latter place, only a fisherman's hut, is situated about a league from the mouth of the Michatoyat, which forms a bar at some short distance. There is no other mode of going thither than in miserable canoes, which are polled along the esteros, or inlets of the ocean, the banks of which are lined with mangroves. Near the mouth of the river there are a couple of huts, inhabited by fishermen, who there pack and salt fish for the capital, of which a considerable quantity is dried and sent up. The population of these places consists chiefly of mulattoes and negroes, with a few Indians; they have a small church, but as the climate is not considered good, no priest will live amongst them. The average heat in the