CONVENT OF CIUDAD VIEJA. 281 



All the way down the side of the volcano we saw the 

 seams and gullies made by the torrents of water which 

 had inundated the city. Again we crossed the beauti- 

 ful stream of El Rio Pensativo, and rode up to the con- 

 vent. It stands adjoining the gigantic and venerable 

 V church of the Virgin. In front was a high stone wall ; 

 a large gate opened into a courtyard, at the extremity 

 and along the side of which were the spacious corridors 

 of the convent, and on the left the gigantic wall of the 

 church, with a door of entry from one end of the corri- 

 dor. The patio was sunk about four feet below the 

 level of the corridor, and divided into parterres, with 

 beds of flowers, and in the centre was a large white 

 circular fountain, with goldfish swimming in it, and ri- 

 sing out of it, above a jet d'eau, an angel with a trumpet 

 and flag. 



Seiior Vidaury had advised Padre Alcantra of my iit- 

 tended visit, and he was waiting to receive us. He 

 was about thirty-three, intelligent, educated, and ener- 

 getic, with a passion for flowers, as was shown by the 

 beautiful arrangements of the courtyard. He had been 

 banished by Morazan, and only returned to his curacy 

 about a year before. On a visit to him was his friend 

 and neighbour Don Pepe Astegueta, proprietor of a 

 cochineal hacienda, and a man of the same stamp and 

 character. They were among the few whom I met who 

 took any interest in the romantic events connected 

 with the early history of the country. After a brief 

 rest in the convent, with a feeling more highly wrought 

 than any that had been awakened in me except by the 

 ruins of Copan, we visited a tree standing before the 

 church and extending wide its branches, under whose 

 shade, tradition says, Alvarado and his soldiers first en- 

 camped ; the fountain of Almolonga, or, in the Indian 



Vol. I.—N n 



