ACCOUNT OF LA ANTIGUA. 



267 



peror Charles the Fifth to the loyal and noble city, and 

 surmounted by the Apostle St. James on horseback, 

 armed, and brandishing a sword ; and the majestic but 

 roofless and ruined cathedral, three hundred feet long, 

 one hundred and twenty broad, nearly seventy high, 

 and lighted by fifty windows, show at this day that La 

 Antigua was once one of the finest cities of the New 

 World, deserving the proud name which Alvarado gave 

 it, the city of St. James of Gentlemen. 



This was the second capital of Guatimala, founded 

 in 1542 on account of the destruction of the first by a 

 water volcano. Its history is one of uninterrupted dis- 

 asters. In 1558 an epidemic disorder, attended with 

 a violent bleeding at the nose, swept away great num- 

 bers of people ; nor could the faculty devise any meth- 

 od to arrest the progress of the distemper. Many se- 

 vere shocks of earthquake were felt at different periods ; 

 the one in 1605 seriously damaged many of the prin- 

 cipal buildings ; those of 1575, 76, and 77 were not 

 less ruinous. On the 27th of December, 1581, the pop- 

 ulation was again alarmed by the volcano, which began 

 to emit fire ; and so great was the quantity of ashes 

 thrown out and spread in the air, that the sun was en- 

 tirely obscured, and artificial light was necessary in 

 the city at midday." 



The years 1585 and 6 were dreadful in the ex- 

 treme. On January 16th of the former, earthquakes 

 were felt, and they continued through that and the fol- 

 lowing year so frequently, that not an interval of eight 

 days elapsed during the whole period without a shock 

 more or less violent. Fire issued incessantly, for 

 months together, from the mountain, and greatly in- 

 creased the general consternation. The greatest dam- 

 age of this series took place on the 23d of December, 



