she treated me with great civility and attention, and particularly used great exertions in procuring me a guide to enable me to set out the next day.

After dinner Nicolas came to my room, and with uplifted hands cried out against the people of Leon, Gente indecente, sin verguenza (literally), indecent people, without shame, He had been hooted in the streets, and had heard such stories of the state of the country before us that he wanted to return home. I was extremely loth to make another change, and particularly for any of the assassin-looking scoundrels whom I had seen on my entry; but I did not like the responsibility of taking him against his will, and told him that if he would procure me two honest men he might leave me. I had advanced him more than was due, but I had a security against his deserting me in his apprehension of being taken for a soldier.

This over, I walked out to take a view of the town. It had an appearance of old and aristocratic respectability, which no other city in Central America possessed. The houses were large, and many of the fronts were full of stucco ornaments; the plaza was spacious, and the squares of the churches and the churches themselves magnificent. It was the seat of a bishopric, and distinguished for the costliness of its churches and convents, its seats of learning, and its men of science, down to the time of its revolution against Spain; but in walking through its streets I saw palaces in which nobles had lived dismantled and roofless, and occupied by half-starved wretches, pictures of misery and want; and on one side an immense field of ruins, covering half the city.

Almost immediately on the establishment of inde

SCENES OF HORROR.

25

pendence, and the drawing of the great party-lines between the Centralists and Federalists, the State of Nicaragua became the theatre of a furious struggle. In an unfortunate hour the people elected a Central governor and Liberal vice-governor. A divided administration led to drawing of blood and the most sanguinary conflict known in civil wars. Inch by inch the ground was disputed, till the whole physical force and deadly animosity of the state were concentrated in the capital. The contending parties fought up to the very heart of the city; the streets were barricaded, and for three months not a person could pass the line without being shot at. Scenes of horror surpassing human belief are fresh in the memory of the inhabitants. The Liberals prevailed; the Central chief was killed, his forces massacred, and in the phrensy of the moment, the part of the city occupied by the Centralists was burned and razed to the ground; besides the blood of murdered citizens, the tears and curses of widows and orphans, the victors had the rich enjoyment of a desolated country and a ruined capital. The same ruthless spirit still characterized the inhabitants of Leon. The heroes of Taguzegalpa, without a single prisoner as a monument of mercy, had been received with ringing of bells and firing of cannon, and other demonstrations of joy, and they were still in the city, flushed with their brutal victory, and anxious to be led on to more such triumphs. I must confess that I felt a degree of uneasiness in walking the streets of Leon that I never felt in any city in the East. My change of dress did not make my presence more acceptable, and the eagle on my hat attracted particular attention. At every corner was a group of scoundrels, who stared at me as if disposed to pick a quarrel. With some my official character made VOL. II.-D

3

me an object of suspicion; for in their disgraceful fights they thought that the eyes of the whole world were upon them, and that England, France, and the United States were secretly contending for the possession of their interesting country. I intended to pay a visit to the chief of the state; but, afraid of being insulted or getting into some difficulty that might detain me, I returned to the house.

By means of the servants Nicolas had found two men who were willing to accompany me, but I did not like their looks, or even to let them know when I intended to set out. I had hardly disposed of them before my guide came to advise me not to set out the next day, as five hundred soldiers, who had been making preparations for several days, were to march the next morning against San Salvador. This was most unpleasant intelligence. I did not wish to travel with them, or to fall in with them on the road; and calculating that their march would be slower than mine, told the guide to ascertain their time for starting, and we would set out two hours before them. Nicolas went out with him to take the mules to water; but they returned in great haste, with intelligence that piquets were scouring the city for men and mules, and had entered the yard of a padre near by and taken three of his animals. The lady of the house ordered all the doors to be locked and the keys brought to her, and an hour before dark we were all shut in, and my poor mules went without water.

At about eight o'clock we heard the tramp of cavalry in the streets, and gathering inside the doorway, saw about six hundred men taking up their line of march. There was no music, no shouting, no waving of handkerchiefs, to cheer them as defenders of their country or as adventurers in the road to glory; but in the dark,

EXPEDITION AGAINST GRENADA.

27

and barefooted, their tread seemed stealthy; people looked at them with fear; and it seemed rather the sally of a band of conspirators than a march by the soldiers of a republic.

My muleteer did not return till daylight the next morning. Fortunately for us, he had learned that the troops were destined on another, but even a more inglorious expedition. Expenses had been incurred in sending troops into Honduras, of which Grenada refused to pay its portion, on the ground that, by the constitution, it was not liable except for expenses incurred in defending the borders of its own state. This was admitted; but the expense had been incurred; Leon had fought the battle, and had the same materials with which she gained it to enforce the contribution. In order that Grenada might be taken unawares, it was given out that the troops were destined for San Salvador, and they were actually marched out on the San Salvador road; but at midnight made a circuit, and took the route for Grenada. War between different states was bad enough, but here the flame which had before laid the capital in ruins was lighted again within its own borders. What the result of this expedition was I never heard; but probably, taken unawares and without arms, Grenada was compelled by bayonets to pay what, by the constitution, she was not bound to pay.

Outside of Leon, and once more on the back of my macho, I breathed more freely. Nicolas was induced to continue by hearing that there was a vessel at Realejo for Costa Rica, and I hoped to find one for Zonzonate. The great plain of Leon was even more beautiful than before; too beautiful for the thankless people to whom the bounty of Providence had given it. On the left was the same low ridge separating it from the Pacific

Ocean, and on the right the great range of Cordilleras, terminated by the volcano of the Viejo.

I had passed through the village of Chichuapa when I heard a cry of "caballero" behind me, and turning, saw divers people waving their hands, and a woman running, almost out of breath, with a pocket-handkerchief which I had left at the house where I breakfasted. I was going on, when a respectable-looking gentleman stopped me, with many apologies for the liberty, and asked for a medio, sixpence. I gave him one, which he examined and handed back, saying, "No corre," "it does not pass." It was always, in paying money, a matter of course to have two or three pieces returned, and this I sometimes resisted; but as in this land everything was al reverso, it seemed regular for beggars to be choosers, and I gave him another.

My stopping-place was at the house of Mr. Bridges, an Englishman from one of the West India Islands, who had been resident in the country many years, and was married to a lady of Leon, but, on account of the convulsions of the country, lived on his hacienda. The soil was rich for cotton and sugar, and Mr. B. said that here fifty men could manufacture sugar cheaper than two hundred in the islands; but the difficulty was, no reliance could be placed upon Indian labour. Here again, thanks to the kindness of Mr. B. and his lady, and the magnificent wildness of hacienda life, I could have passed several days with much satisfaction; but I stopped only for dinner, after which Mr. B. accompanied me to Chinandaga.

As usual, my first business was to make arrangements for continuing my journey. My whole road was along the coast of the Pacific, but beyond this the Gulf of Couchagua made a large indentation in the