Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/99

CH. VI.] in his journeys which he occasionally made through the provinces, on account of the firm. He was a Guatemalian traveller, in that sense of the appellation best understood in the commercial world. His journey to the metropolis was fixed for the 16th; and I was anxious to set out as soon as possible. As he was the very character I wished to fall in with, being, as he was, so well fitted to acquaint me with the practical detail of the manner and habits of the trade of these countries, I endeavoured to induce him to depart with me on an earlier day: he was a kind, good natured, man, but had a dash of pomp about him, which shewed a just estimation of the importance of his own functions, and gave me a lesson as to the respect and consideration due to them, which I endeavoured not to forget. I cannot pretend to describe characters with the inimitable pencil of Washington Irving; I would, therefore, merely say that he was his "Master Simon," entered into business.