Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/419

CH. XXIX.] embarked on board the schooner which had brought him from Belize.

A few minutes before I left the house, I received an extraordinary courier from Mr. Soza, the minister for foreign affairs: he had sent me a small box containing specimens of the different tobaccos produced in the country, made up into cigars. I ought to have mentioned that I had yesterday paid a visit to Don Indalesio Pergamo, the commandant of the town: the poor man had been ill of an intermittent fever: he was lying in his hammock, and presented a picture of the most frightful emaciation: he hardly seemed as if he would live a minute: I peeped into his dwelling to take my leave of him before I went aboard, but he was unconscious of any attention, and I left the poor sufferer for dead. It was a sad parting specimen of the sickness and mortality of the coast of Izabal.

We had been able to provide ourselves with a few fowls, which, with some onions and green chillies, and a little fresh bread,