Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/443

CH. XXXI.] way. They average from four to ten days in making the voyage; being incommoded one way by the stream running out of the gulf, and the other by the north-east wind which blows down it nine months out of the year. The distance, which is about 200 miles, might be performed by a steam-boat in twenty-four hours.

Sunday, 14th August. To-day, one of these schooners arrived from Izabal with four passengers and merchandize. The parties brought us letters from the capital, and, amongst the rest, one for Don Eugenio, by which we were happy to find that his little sister had recovered her spirits and was much better. These passengers were commercial men, and having been ten days from Izabal, seemed exhausted by their trip. The only accommodation they had on shore was a small out-house on the quay, about twelve feet square, in which three of them were lying down on the floor with their nightcaps or handkerchiefs on their heads and nothing on their bodies but a