Our new friend was communicative, and told us that he had been all the way to Caridad to bring a priest to San Juan, _"para hacer cosas de familia_," (to attend to family affairs,) which he explained as meaning "to marry, baptize, and catechize." The people of San Juan, he added, were too poor to keep a priest of their own; they couldn't pay enough; and, moreover, their women were all old and ugly. And he indulged in a knowing wink and chuckle. Meantime we had kept on our course, and it had become quite dark; still there was no sign of the village,--not even the flicker of lights or the barking of dogs. "What did the fellow say about the distance?" inquired H., angrily. "That there was no more distance." "Ask him again; he couldn't have understood you." _"Amigo_, where is your village? You said just now that it was close by." _"Hay no masita, Señor!"_ "What's that?" "He says that the distance was nothing before, and is still less now!" "Bah! he's a fool!" Half an hour later, which to H.'s indignant imagination seemed an age, we reached the top of a high ridge, and saw the first glimmer of the lights of the village, on the farther edge of a broad plain, a mile and a half distant. _"Estamos aquí!"_ (Here we are!) exclaimed our guide, triumphantly. Our mules pricked forward their ears at the welcome sight, and we trotted briskly over the plain, and, as usual, straight to the _cabildo_,--a newly constructed edifice of canes plastered with mud, but, for a tropical country, suffering under the slight defect of having no windows or aperture for ventilation besides the door. The drum brought us the most attentive of _alguazils_, and we fared by no means badly in San Juan; that is to say, we had plenty of milk and eggs. When supper was over, H. lighted a pine splinter, and put on record his "Observations on the Standard of Measurement in Honduras," which I am allowed to copy for the information of travellers. "Distances here are computed by what may be called Long Measure. League is a vague term, and, like _x_ in an algebraic equation, stands for an unknown quantity. It may mean ten miles, more or less,--any distance, in fact, over five miles. The unit of measure, as fixed by law, is _estamos aquí_, (here we are,) which is a mile and a half; _hay no masita_ (a little less than nothing) is five miles; _hay no mas_ (there is no more) is ten miles; and _muy cerca_ (very near) is a hard day's journey. As regards spirituous liquors, a _trago_ of brandy, or 'a drink,' is whatever may be in the bottle, be the same large or small, and the quantity more or less."