Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/49

Rh pesso, which is made by the rind of limes rubbed with corn, and allowed to ferment, and then mixed with honey; this they esteem a great luxury.

The maize they grind into a powder between two stones, and after moulding it into a kind of dough with water but without salt, they bake it in small cakes which they call tortillas. In appearance they are not unlike the English oatcake, but very tasteless.

Their huts are altogether without furniture. Some of them have a hammock, but this luxury is by no means general. Their usual custom is to sleep on mats upon the floor.

These scattered families all profess the Roman Catholic religion, and are under the pastoral care of the Padre at Gualan, the nearest town to their residence, who visits them two or three times a year for the purposes of confession and absolution. The whole of them are exceedingly ignorant and superstitious, and are most completely under the dominion of their religious superior. The women of this hut had each of them small silver crucifixes suspended round their necks by light gold chains, which they seemed to regard with the highest degree of reverence.

Owing to the obstinacy of the muleteers it is almost impossible to set out early in the morning, and as the road from hence is open and unshaded by trees, this perverseness often becomes a source