Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/321

CH. XXI.]

next day, the 27th June, I called on Don Antonio Batrez, the postmaster-general. He was living in one of the best buildings in the town: it constituted the office as well as his residence, and the apartments were handsome and well furnished: the floors were inlaid with marble, and covered, here and there, with a piece of mat or carpet: a large wardrobe or press, very bulky and glossy, and some cushioned benches, placed round the walls, in a sofa-like form, were the chief articles which the rooms contained.

There was no department of government business better managed, considering the state of affairs, than the system of the couriers. The mail was conveyed pretty