Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/198

178 of the Spaniards, they addressed one another by their Christian names: the servants of one family were riding by the side of, and were in converse with, the gentry of another; whilst the servants of the latter were admitted to the same familiarity with the representatives of the former:—when Jacob had embraced his brother Laban, and veered off to the land of his fathers, he was not accompanied by a more patriarchal-like community than that which was now journeying towards the plains of San Juan.

We had come to a narrow defile in the mountain, where there was room for only one passenger to pass, abreast: the sides of it were composed of high walls of clay which the rain had made smooth and slippery: I was bringing up the rear of the caravan, when my progress was arrested, in the middle of this awkward spot: a mule had slipped down, and would not, or at least the damsel, whom it had carried, could not prevail upon him to, get up. She had slid off his back, uninjured, but