GUATEMALA CITY. 175 
luggage we had sent from Coban and Antigua, in perfect 
order. 
We were now in the principal city of Central America, 
— a city well worthy of study; but not at all a represen¬ 
tative one, for all that. After the earthquake of Santa 
Marta, in 1773, had ruined the beautiful city of Antigua 
Guatemala, the inhabitants sought a more stable site, 
farther from the slopes of the great volcanoes; and the 
valley of the Hermitage was selected, towards the north. 
Here was the half church, half fortress, that still inter¬ 
ests the visitor; but all around was a sterile plain, and 
its elevation and distance from any port seemed most 
unfavorable to the growth of a large city. Eighty-four 
miles separate Guatemala City from its port of San Jose; 
while the Atlantic ports are more than a hundred leagues 
away, with no carriage-road between. In spite of these 
and other disadvantages, the city of Saint James has grown 
to be the largest and most important of Central America. 
It numbers among its churches some of the finest in 
the country; and its other public buildings are of im¬ 
posing size, if devoid of any architectural merit. Almost 
all the houses are of one story ; and the paved streets, 
laid out at right angles, and of nearly uniform width, do 
not attract the stranger as he rides over the exceedingly 
rough pavement. Indeed, our first impressions were 
very unfavorable ; for had we not seen Coban, Quezalte- 
nango, Soloist, and Antigua, — all of them much more 
beautiful than any part of Guatemala City ? It was not 
until we were well out of the city that we were pleased 
with it, — not until it became a confused mass of white 
walls almost hidden in foliage, with the church-towers 
rising above, and in the distance those two noble volca- 
