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456 November, and in the former, at the town of Apastepeque on the 15th of September and the 2d and 31st of October.

Nevertheless, the supply of woollen goods on such occasions is not equal to the demand, and the Guatemalian shopkeepers are accustomed every year to take all their stock of similar articles to those marts, although they have thus to encounter the labour and expense of journeys of seventy and 160 leagues.

Provisions, with the exception of that kind eaten by the natives, and which consists of frixoles, or dried beans, maize and plantains, very cheap and almost their only nutriment, are dearer in Guatemala than perhaps most parts of Europe.

In a country so plentiful and so thinly peopled, this fact appears somewhat extraordinary, but perhaps it may be accounted for by the low state of agriculture and the comparative abundance of specie; to which it may be added that few cattle are bred in the neighbourhood of Guatemala, it being pretended that in the dry season