266 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



or cold never predominates ; yet this city, surrounded 

 by more natural beauty than any location I ever saw, 

 has perhaps undergone more calamities than any city 

 that V7as ever built. We passed the gate and rode 

 through the suburbs, in the opening of the valley, on 

 one side of vrhich was a new house that reminded me 

 of an Italian villa, with a large cochineal plantation ex- 

 tending to the base of the mountain. "We crossed a 

 stream bearing the poetical name of El Rio Pensativo; 

 on the other side was a fine fountain, and at the corner 

 of the street was the ruined church of San Domingo, a 

 monument of the dreadful earthquakes which had pros- 

 trated the old capital, and driven the inhabitants from 

 their home. 



On each side were the ruins of churches, convents, 

 and private residences, large and costly, some lying in 

 masses, some with fronts still standing, richly orna- 

 mented with stucco, cracked and yawning, roofless, 

 without doors or windows, and trees growing inside 

 above the walls. Many of the houses have been re- 

 paired, the city is repeopled, and presents a strange ap- 

 pearance of ruin and recovery. The inhabitants, like 

 the dwellers over the buried Herculaneum, seemed to 

 entertain no fears of renewed disaster. I rode up 

 to the house of Don Miguel Manrique, which was oc- 

 cupied by his family at the time of the destruction of 

 the city, and, after receiving a kind welcome, in com- 

 pany with Senor Vidaury walked to the plaza. The 

 print opposite will give an idea, which I cannot, of 

 the beauty of this scene. The great volcanoes of 

 Agua and Fuego look down upon it ; in the centre is 

 a noble stone fountain, and the buildings which face it, 

 especially the palace of the captain general, displaying 

 on its front the armorial bearings granted by the Em- 



