230 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



spattered on the wall, were among the curiosities shown 

 to me in Guatimala. 



On Sunday morning the bells again sounded the 

 alarm ; the rebels were at the old gate, and commis- 

 sioners were sent out to treat with them. They de- 

 manded an evacuation of the plaza by the soldiers ; but 

 the soldiers answered, indignantly, that the rebels 

 might come and take the square. Prem softened this 

 into an answer that they could not surrender to rebels, 

 and at about half past twelve at night the attack com- 

 menced. The rebels scattered in the suburbs, wasting 

 powder and bullets, and in the morning Yanez, with 

 seventy cavalry, made a sally, and, routing three hun- 

 dred of them, returned into the plaza with lances reek- 

 ing with blood. Probably, if he had been seconded by 

 the citizens, he would have driven them all back to the 

 Antigua. 



On Wednesday Carrera joined the rebels. He had 

 sent his emissaries to the villages, rousing the Indians, 

 and promising them the plunder of Guatimala ; and on 

 Thursday, with a tumultuous mass of half-naked sava- 

 ges, men, women, and children, estimated at ten or 

 twelve thousand, presented himself at the gate of the 

 city. The Antiguanos themselves were struck with con- 

 sternation, and the citizens of Guatimala were thrown 

 into a state bordering on distraction. Commissioners 

 were again sent out to treat with him, from whom he 

 demanded the deposition of Galvez, the chief of the 

 state, the evacuation of the plaza by the Federal troops, 

 and a free passage into the city. Probably, even at this 

 time, if the Federal troops had been supported by the 

 citizens they could have resisted the entry ; but the 

 consternation, and the fear of exasperating the rebel- 

 lious hordes, were so great, that nothing was thought of 



