Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/316

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plan however has not yet been carried into effect, and it is very doubtful whether the benefit would be sufficiently great to repay the labour.

At Sapoti we slept under a somewhat better shed, though still greatly annoyed by the multitude of flies, and chilled by the heavy dews which fall near the shore. The following day we returned to Naranjo, where we again passed the night in the open air, drenched by the dews, and tormented by an additional enemy, the vampyre; these animals a few days before our arrival, had killed no less than thirty fowls, belonging to the farm. As we had passed through this place two days before, they had told us that one of the people was somewhat unwell with fever, and inquired if brandy were a good thing for him. We of course warned them against it, and recommended a purgative plant which grows in the neighbourhood; but they persisted in their own remedy, and thirty-six hours afterwards the man was dead and buried.

Returning to Mistan through the woods, we noticed a few deer, the guacamaya or great macaw, and several wild peacocks; these birds on the wing display their splendid plumage to great advantage. Vultures here as in every other part of the republic, are abundant; the body of a calf which had just died on the road, was literally covered with them, struggling in crowds for a