Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/65

CH. IV.]

not find Acapulco by any means so miserable a place as it is so generally described to be: the freshness of the sea-breeze and the beautiful expanse of waters in the bay as fine as any in the world, formed an agreeable contrast to the inland monotonous life which a person leads in the valley of Mexico: the mountains, which surround this valley, give you the idea of prison walls, beyond which you can only escape with difficulty and patience: you seem to be living in a crow's nest, beyond the reach of and intercourse with the rest of the world. How different is the situation of one, who, far from his home and relatives, lives on the sea-shore! he places his foot on the water, and he touches the grand material link of the