FIRST VIEW OF THE CITY. 189 



ready finished their day's work, were lying under the 

 shade of the trees, with their saddles and cargoes piled 

 up like walls, and their mules pasturing near. Along 

 the table was a line of huts, and if adorned instead of 

 being deformed by the hand of man, this would be a 

 region of poetic beauty. Indians, men and women, 

 with loads on their backs, every party with a bundle of 

 rockets, were returning from the " Capitol," as they 

 proudly called it, to their villages among the mount* 

 ains. All told us that two days before Carrera had re- 

 entered the city with his soldiers. 



"When we were yet two leagues from the city Augus- 

 tin's horse gave out. I was anxious to have a view of the 

 city before dark, and rode on. Late in the afternoon, 

 as I was ascending a small eminence, two immense vol- 

 canoes stood up before me, seeming to scorn the earth, 

 and towering to the heavens. They were the great 

 volcanoes of Agua and Fuego, forty miles distant, and 

 nearly fifteen thousand feet high, wonderfully grand and 

 beautiful. In a few moments the great plain of Guati- 

 mala appeared in view, surrounded by mountains, and 

 in the centre of it the city, a mere speck on the vast ex- 

 panse, with churches, and convents, and numerous tur- 

 rets, cupolas, and steeples, and still as if the spirit of 

 peace rested upon it ; with no storied associations, but 

 by its own beauty creating an impression on the mind 

 of a traveller which can never be effaced. I dismount- 

 ed and tied my mule. As yet the sun lighted up the 

 roofs and domes of the city, giving a reflection so daz- 

 zling that I could only look at them by stealth. By de- 

 grees, its disk touched the top of the Volcano del Agua ; 

 slowly the whole orb sank behind it, illuminating the 

 background with an atmosphere fiery red. A rich gold- 

 en cloud rolled up its side and rested on the top, and 



