Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities 48

Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities 48

The first part of our journey was as bad as a road through a level

country could possibly be. The dark fat soil had been churned into an

almost uniform mass of the softest mud, into which the wheels sunk up

to the hub. Where the ground was firmer, the road had been worn into

deep ruts and holes, which would bring the cart down upon its axis

with stunning violence. It was the duty of the one in front to give us

timely warning of these dangerous breakers.

 

"Hard a-starboard," he would suddenly cry, and instantly Texas and

Ohio would brace themselves more firmly, in anticipation of the coming

shock, while Si and myself drew in our pendulum legs with emulous

celerity. Down goes the right wheel as suddenly as if it had rolled

off the roof of a house, settling Texas' head an inch between his

shoulders, and jamming Ohio's inextricably between his knees. The next

moment their positions are reversed, the cart slowly recovers its

balance and plunges down a precipice on the left. It is in vain that

they cling like bats to the framework behind them, or brace their legs

like pillars against the opposite side, the next jolt upsets all their

calculations and throws them into a state of helpless bewilderment,

from which they do not fully recover till the cart reaches more

level ground, when a volley of "darns" and "gollies," and such like

exclamations, seems to operate as a wonderful sedative.

 

But it must not be supposed that we remained constantly in such

contracted quarters. Ohio's bustling activity was continually driving

him out to stretch his legs, Si was anxious to try his new revolver,

and we all felt a natural curiosity to see as much of the country as

possible. It was unsafe, however, to loiter long behind. The oxen

moved commonly as fast as a man could walk, and if they ever got out

of sight it was no easy matter to overtake them. We each of us found

ourselves at different times in this awkward predicament; and the

state of exhaustion in which we at length rejoined our company, and

the ill-concealed derision with which we were greeted, made us firmly

resolve never again to be guilty of a similar blunder. Yet the boy of

ten or twelve years who accompanied us, performed nearly the whole

journey on foot, and without exhibiting any signs of fatigue. When we

first left Realejo he marched before, in the middle of the road, and

the cattle followed close behind as if he had been their pilot. But

after we were once fairly started, he was no longer needed in that

capacity, and I wondered why he continued to follow us. Presently I

saw him seize a large knife, resembling a butcher's cleaver, that lay

in the back of the cart, and run into the woods. In ten or fifteen

minutes he reappeared, carrying a large bundle of strips of bark

about a foot in length. While I was in an agony of curiosity to know

what he would do next, he advanced to the side of the cart and thrust

several of the mysterious strips in between the axle and the wheel,

which had been for some time creaking in the most distressing manner.

A few turns relieved the difficulty. The bark, ground against the

heated axle, yielded a small supply of lubricating sap that furnished

an indifferent substitute for grease. This lasted perhaps an hour,

when another application became necessary. In spite, however, of this

ingenious artifice, we wore out two axles four inches in diameter in

performing a journey of one hundred and fifty miles. Several times the

axle began to smoke, when the cry of "Acqui, muchacho! muchacho! rota,

fuego!" brought our indefatigable satellite to our assistance. When

not thus occupied, he commonly walked behind the cart, with a grave

and erect demeanour that set off the hat, the only article of clothing

he had on, to infinite advantage.

 

The wardrobe of our hombre was rather more extensive. He had, besides

a hat, a shirt and pair of pantaloons; and, in that climate, nothing

more was required. The children of both sexes seldom wear a rag of

clothing till they are four years old, and the boys often go entirely

naked ten years longer. As we were passing one day through a village,

the name of which I have forgotten, my attention was attracted by a

little girl not more than three years old, standing before the door

of a house, with no other protection than a cigar and the cloud of

smoke that she breathed from her nostrils with all the practiced

_nonchalance_ of an ancient Dutchman. A dispute, however, arose

as to the sex of this young ancient, one of my companions stoutly

maintaining that it was a boy; but then, as a lady to whom I related

the incident ingeniously remarked, the children dress so much alike

in that country that such a mistake might easily occur.

 

We went the first day only seven miles, and stopped for the night at

Chanandaigua, a large town, and much more attractive than Realejo,

though the style of building, as in all the cities of Central America,

is to a stranger naturally gloomy and repulsive. The houses are mostly

of one story, built of stone or brick, and plastered with cement.

There are few windows looking towards the street, and these are often

guarded by iron gratings or heavy shutters. The principal hotels and

larger dwelling-houses somewhat resemble an Eastern caravanserai.

They consist of a range of apartments surrounding an open square, and

connected by a broad verandah. On this verandah the most important

affairs of the family are conducted. It is often used as a kitchen,

and almost always as a dining-room and bed-chamber. Hammocks slung

between the posts and the walls of the house furnish a favourite

lounge by day and bed by night. But little furniture is required,

and that of the plainest description. A few chairs, a rough table,

and a number of cot-bedsteads comprised the entire contents of the

best hotel we found during our journey, and in Leon, a city of forty

thousand inhabitants, we were obliged to sleep on the floor.

 

At Chanandaigua we fared sumptuously on boiled chicken, eggs, and

wheaten bread resembling what we call French rolls. The flour used in

the country is mostly imported from the United States, and the lower

classes subsist almost entirely on corn and fruit. Our hombre grew

fat on a diet we thought fit only for hogs. When we left Realejo, he

threw into the cart a bag containing a lump of something twice as

big as his hand, and of most alarming ponderosity. On stopping for

dinner, he opened the bag, and displayed to our wondering eyes what

seemed the half of a huge cheese, but on closer inspection proved to

be a loaf of meal and water of a degree of density that argued immense

pressure. With a huge wedge of this in one hand and a small wedge

of rude cheese resembling curd in the other, he munched and nibbled

alternately, with the most evident satisfaction. Before we reached the

end of our journey, the bread had become so sour as to impregnate the

whole atmosphere of our cart; yet the appetite of the hombre appeared

in no wise diminished, and he and the muchacho probably finished the

cake between them on their homeward route.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXIV.

 

 

We left Chanandaigua early in the morning, for we had a long march

before us, and desired to avoid the intense heat of midday as

far as possible. The road led most of the way through an almost

unbroken forest, interrupted at long intervals by a patch of corn or

sugar-cane, with a footpath winding off to some invisible and isolated

farmhouse. Except in the towns and villages, I do not remember seeing

more than one building during our whole march;--the country seemed

uninhabited, and the fat and fertile soil suffered for want of hands

to trim its waste luxuriance. Among the strange trees of the forest,

the mahogany seemed like an old acquaintance. Those that we saw were

about the size of our largest oaks, and closely resembled them in the

size and formation of the branches.

 

We passed this day through one or two small towns, the inhabitants

of which came running to the doors to feast their eyes on so

unusual a spectacle. Everywhere we were received with shouts of

welcome;--even the little children joining in the cry of "los buenos

Americanos!" Yet it must be confessed that our appearance was by

no means prepossessing;--we looked more like a band of robbers or

ragamuffins than the peaceful representatives of the greatest country

in the known world, and perhaps owed more to our reals and revolvers

than our vanity would have been willing to allow. But whatever may

have been the reason, we had no cause to complain of incivility,

and the only serious annoyance was the everlasting "poco tiempo."

In the mouth of a Spaniard or an Indian these words possess the

most perplexing significance. They are a sufficient answer to all

complaint or expostulation. They are expected to feed the hungry,

to quiet the impatient, and to satisfy the inquisitive. They afford

the best possible refuge for indolence and stupidity, and there is

reason to fear that as long as the Spaniard retains these words in his

vocabulary he will continue to be distinguished for both those vices.

 

It was by a strange misnomer that we called our driver hombre. He

had, to be sure, the outward semblance of a man, but he had no right

to such a distinctive title. Curiosity, not that of the monkey, but

of the philosopher, is man's most striking characteristic. Instead

of defining him as a laughing animal or a cooking animal, I would

define him as a curious animal. From this definition our hombre

would certainly have been excluded. Of curiosity of any sort he had

not, apparently, a single particle, and his intelligence was of the

most contracted order. This was just the character for poco tiempo.

He understood the uses of the phrase to perfection. If he delayed

starting in the morning long after the last of our companions had

disappeared, poco tiempo was his ready answer. If he loitered on the

road without any assignable reason, when twilight was already stealing

upon us, it was still poco tiempo. There was no use in getting into

a passion,--in the first place he did not understand English, and

if he had he would only have shrugged his shoulders a little more

expressively, without losing a jot of his abiding complacency. We at

length gave up the contest in despair, and submitted to a fate we

could not resist, consoling ourselves with the reflection that an

animal, who lived on cheese and sour Indian bread of the consistency

of a bullet, must needs be of a very heavy, phlegmatic temper.

 

At several places by the roadside we found women and children with

little tables covered with oranges, coarse brown sugar, lemonade, and

bottles of milk. As bottles were apparently difficult to obtain,

they were seldom willing to part with them; but rather than lose the

sale of the milk, they would follow the cart a long distance, eagerly

watching the bottle the whole time, as it rose from a horizontal to

an upright position, as if fearful that that too would be swallowed

by the voracious Americano. In spite of the intense heat we drank

but little water on our journey, preferring to quench our thirst

with oranges, of which I sometimes ate, or rather drank, twenty in a

single day. They were not only far superior to any ever seen in the

States, but surpassed, in almost the same degree, those we had eaten

at Rio and Havana, the intensest heat of the tropics being required

to bring this fruit to perfection. Of the pineapples I can only say,

they seemed more fit to be the food of angels than of men; and if, as

some suppose, our character be really affected by the nature of our

food, then those who live on the pineapples of the equator must be of

all men the most subtilized and ethereal. I am quite satisfied in my

own mind the amiable Elia must, some time in his life, have visited

Central America, or he never could have written with such feeling and

unction on a subject that can be appreciated only by those who have

been fortunate enough to enjoy similar opportunities. We travelled

this day thirty-six miles, and came late in the evening to Leon. Our

clumsy caravan, that seemed sufficiently rude and primitive in the

depths of the forest, harmonized still less with the paved streets

of a great and splendid city. It was like the relic of a barbarous

age, and I could not help thinking that the inhabitants of Leon would

regard it with as much curiosity as I had done myself. Yet it produced

no greater sensation than a market wagon in Boston or New York,--our

hombre drove carelessly along, past long blocks of lofty houses, and

under magnificent cathedrals, without a thought of the ludicrous

contrast we presented. He stopped at length before a hotel, where

a crowd of our companions were already assembled. Some of them had

been here several hours; they had eaten their supper, and were now

grumbling in good set terms at the imposition that had been practised

upon them. In the first place the supper was detestable, and in the

second place there was not half enough of it. Putting these two

together, and sagely concluding that the case could not be much worse,

we determined to try our fortunes in another direction. An American,who had been residing several months in Leon, directed us to a private house, where he said we should be sure to obtain an excellent supper.