ROADSIDE SKETCHES IN GUATEMALA 107 



We rode our mules through the gaily decorated streets ; they 

 stepped proudly over the green branches and under the 

 triumphal arches ; we passed an arena where a crowd of 

 men was busy cock-fighting; we crossed the Plaza, with its 

 curious old church and beautiful fountain, and presently met 

 a procession attended almost solely by women, the men being 

 better employed in testing the merits of their respective 

 champions in the ring. We, of course, dismounted and 

 made room. First came a noisy drum, then a figure in bright- 

 coloured garments representing the Virgin, attended by others 

 of very unhappy-looking saints, all borne upon the shoulders 

 of men in black European clothes ; a crowd of women 

 followed, everybody else kneeling as the procession passed. 

 On its arrival at the church door bunches of rockets were 

 let off, and the saints felt, I trust, refreshed by their little 

 airing. Some of the women wore the most beautifully em- 

 broidered chemises, and had we not been aware of the certainty 

 of non-success an attempt at a deal would have been made, 

 even at the risk of depriving the fair one of her only garment. 

 A beautiful ride through forest scenery brought us to the late 

 capital, now called Antigua, the old, a ruined city, lying in 

 a lovely valley, and surrounded by coffee, orange, and flower 

 gardens, at the foot of one of the grandest shaped mountains, 

 the " Volcano de Agua," or water volcano, which rises in 

 stately beauty from the immediate outskirts of the town. A 

 little further off stands the destroyer of this once beautiful 

 city, the double-peaked "Fuego," never at rest, always emitting 

 smoke, and often flame. Both are giants, for neither falls 

 far short of 14,000 feet. In this clear atmosphere, which so 

 sharply defines their outline, they seem much closer than in 

 reality they are; in fact, when standing on the Plaza, the 

 volcano of Agua seems to tower almost immediately above 

 Government House, formerly the palace of the Captain-General 

 of Spain. This volcano, in 1541, destroyed the first capital of 

 Guatemala by water, which, until then a lake, confined in the 

 roomy crater, suddenly burst its banks, and in overwhelming 

 quantity and with stupendous force swept the old city bodily 

 away. Antigua, the next capital, was then built at a little 

 distance from the site of its predecessor, but ruins alone now 

 bear witness to its former magnificence, for the " Volcano do 



