Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/117

CH. VII.] are thus exposed, account, satisfactorily, for the tooth and face ache with which they are so often afflicted. The two inner angles of this apartment, which was about twenty-six feet long by fourteen wide, were occupied by beds of the simplest construction, without posts, or, indeed, any other furniture than a mattress. In the day time, therefore, they answered the purpose of sofas; and such linen as was necessary was brought in and deposited on them when they were required for the night. One of them was now occupied by a youth, who was bedridden. He was the eldest son, and his emaciated frame and despondent visage, which still bore traces of the handsome features of the family, bespoke the probability of his early dissolution. The agonies he suffered seemed to be intense. He had, some months ago, injured his instep by a fall from his horse: it had been gradually getting worse, and was on the verge of mortification. The groans which the poor boy uttered, but which he endeavoured to