o and passengers, and to transfer them to the steamer. In the
morning, the loading of the flatboat and the getting ready for
departure, took all our thought. At ten o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth,
with their baby and two servants, appeared in small canoes, which had
been poled by indians from the plantation, several hours' journey up the
Michol River. At the last moment, Mr. Ellsworth had decided to accompany
his party to the city. When everything was loaded, quite promptly,
at twelve o'clock, the flatboat pushed out from its moorings. Mr.
Ellsworth's little launch was standing at the landing, and he invited me
to ride in it, with him and Mrs. Ellsworth and the baby, to the steamer.
We started off right proudly in the Miriam, but, alas, pride goes before
destruction, and we had hardly left the heavy flatboat a little behind
us, when our machinery broke down, and we had to wait until the clumsy
scow overtook us, when we became common passengers again, and drifted
down the stream to the Mariscal, passing the Lumeha plantation, an
American enterprise.

[Illustration: CHOLS RESTING, LA TRINIDAD]

The Mariscal itself was a little steamer, too small for the passengers
and freight it had to carry. It had no beds nor cabin; it was dirty and
crowded; it had not food enough to feed the first-class passengers, who
paid twenty-five pesos each for their short journey. There was, indeed,
no other class of passengers, only one grade of tickets being sold.
When complaints were made of the accommodations, or lack of all
accommodations, the _agente_, who was on the vessel with us, expressed
surprise, and seemed profoundly hurt. The stream is full of curves and
bends, is broad, and notably uniform in breadth; it has considerable
current, and is bordered closely by the tropical forest, except where
little clearings have been made for _fincas_. Formerly, caimans, or
alligators, were common, but they have become rare, through the diligent
hunting to which they have been subjected for supplying skins. Two days
are usually taken in the journey to Frontera, though it is not a fifteen
hours' run. Mr. Ellsworth arranged for our going directly through, so
that, except one stop at a midway station, we made a continuous journey,
and drew up at Frontera at 9:50 in the morning.

It is a mean little town, but far cleaner than Coatzacoalcos. Real grass
grows there, and the little plaza is almost a lawn. Last year, when
yellow fever was so terrible at