Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/230

210 octavos, opened or interlarded with scraps of memoranda, were scattered, in profusion, over the table: it was as though he were inordinate in his requisitions at the feast of intellect. He gave me paper after paper and document after document, till I began to feel my appetite satiated at the very sight of them: they were more than I could have duly digested even had I delayed my stay in the country twice as long as I intended: I, however, took home with me as many of them as I could conveniently carry, and the rest he had the kindness to send home for me. Our being mutually engaged in researches after that sort of information to which my inquiries were particularly directed, constituted, I presume, the preliminary to that friendship which so eagerly commenced, and has since existed between this Andean Cicero and so humble a person as myself. I believe I much contributed to his feelings on this point, by presenting him with a copy of my American Dictionary, which I fortunately had with me: