Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/54

Rh to be obliged to remain nine days. The servants, as is invariably the case, imitate their masters, and are lazy and indolent. It is said they have considerably deteriorated since the revolution.

Immediately after rising in the morning, coffee was prepared, and about nine we breakfasted on stewed meat, eggs, frijollis or black beans, bread, and coffee. Dinner generally consisted of four courses, two dishes to each, and included beef cut up and hashed, fowls, turkeys, and sausages, but all roasted to pieces, soaked in bad butter, and thickly strewed over with onions; frijollis, eggs, and a milk pudding followed, and wine and water to drink. In the afternoon chocolate was prepared, and in the evening, about nine o'clock, a supper similar to the dinner, but with less variety of viands. For these accommodations each individual paid a dollar per day. The whole of these messes were prepared under a shed, in a large dirty yard, which served as a kitchen, and was full of filth of all kinds. The knowledge of this, with the sight of the servants, had no tendency to quicken our appetites. The spoons, cups, and knives and forks were of silver, and two lamps hanging from the roof, cased in silver, but quite neglected, betokened a country that had once been rich in metals.

The morning after our arrival we were presented in form to the alcalde. The old man