144 
GUATEMALA. 
We went to the National Institute and saw very good 
dormitories for the young men who study here. I n 
preparation for an expected visit of the President, 
lanterns were hung along the colonnades, and blue and 
white (the national colors) met the eye on every side. 
There was something homelike in the narrow, crooked 
streets, — so different from the tasteless rectangles of 
most other Guatemaltecan cities. Then, too, they were 
clean, well paved, and provided with sidewalks, — in 
some places, where they were very steep, with bridges 
over the gutters, which in rainy weather must be tor¬ 
rents. Street-lamps and letter-boxes, plenty of foun¬ 
tains (and the water is cold and excellent), gave an air 
of civilized comfort very agreeable to us. The houses 
were well built, and usually had the window and door¬ 
jambs of sculptured stone. There were plenty of win¬ 
dows, and the gates were often ajar, revealing flowers 
and fountains in many courtyards. Peach-trees were 
in blossom, and also bore half-ripe fruit. In the suburb 
Cienega is a picturesque washing-place, or lavadero , 
where an artist has many a chance for sketching the 
Indias. 
We saw more tokens of Sunday observance than we had 
yet seen in Guatemala. Towards sunset the military band, 
of twenty-five instruments, played for some time in the 
garden; but it was more amusing to me to see the people 
with their obsolete European costumes and Sunday man¬ 
ners than to listen to the music, which Frank said was 
good. Especially effeminate boys wore very high heels, 
to give them a standing in society they could never attain 
otherwise. The garden was not so good as that at Solola, 
but contained, in addition to the list of that place, olean- 
