Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/405

CH. XXVIII.] but they had an arduous job to buffet against the current, and, following the example of their conductor, swam with their heads almost directly up the river: even with this counteracting effort, some of the weaker animals landed a considerable distance lower down than the point which they were attempting to make. To reload them was the business of an hour, and, in the interim, we passed up a gully, the natural landing place, and arrived at a hut on the brow of the hill, where, it now being dinner time, we filled up the interval by making that meal on such refreshments as the place afforded.

The Chinese, who, amongst his numerous qualifications, prized himself on his cooking, had already made great progress in a curry, substituting the Chile pepper for that powder: he proved himself an able artist, and replenished our stores with live poultry, which he unmercifully slung by their legs to his holsters and crupper in such quantities, that he seemed, when in his saddle, to