Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/527

Rh six rials a bushel, once happened to cost in San Salvador from sixteen to twenty-four dollars;—a profit of 3100 per cent. was not thought a sufficient inducement to carry this commodity a hundred leagues.

This fact may appear to be at variance with one which I have elsewhere stated relative to the conveyance of goods thrice a year, by native merchants, from the capital to fairs held at even a greater distance than that just alluded to;—but, if the difficulty of conveying merchandize be so appalling, the fact of that domestic intercourse explains a question of some political interest;—it proves the avidity with which the middle and lower classes indulge themselves in those European articles of comfort, which, since the abolition of the high duties that had hitherto prevailed, it has fallen within the compass of their ability to purchase.