The descent was almost precipitous.

The town, better built and more compact than most, was situated near the foot of the hill; near it, on a terrace, was the cemetery.

On the level road, stretching to a long distance from the town, we saw lines of hundreds of pack-mules, dwarfed by distance.

South from the town stretched a grassy plain, bordered here and there with pine trees.

Back of this plain rose round-topped hills, and beyond them were again the blue mountains; far in the distance, behind these, towered the mighty crests of the Guatemalan Sierra Madre.
The town was crowded, as the annual _feria_ (fair) was in progress, and it was with difficulty that we found a room to sleep in, going for our meals to one of the many temporary eating-places in the plaza.