Six Days on the Hurricane Deck of a Mule

An uneasy first ride becomes the comic centre of Almira Stillwell Cole's account of travel through Honduras in August 1891. She sets out from New York intending to live in the country's interior for five years, despite warnings from friends and relatives. After a pleasant sea passage, she reaches Amapala and faces delays before crossing to the mainland. Mounting an unfamiliar side saddle begins a much harder stretch of travel, with her young acquaintance Vincent accompanying her inland.

Village rooms, hammocks and tropical rain give Cole plenty to describe between hours in the saddle. A startled mule carries her up rocks above a mountain path, and a cool house at La Breita offers welcome relief. Her attention to beds, household furnishings and hospitality gives the account its everyday texture. Readers can find both the physical demands of travel and the narrator's period assumptions in this personal record of discomfort and determination.