388 
GUATEMALA. 
of wheat induced a peasant to kill the monster. Politics 
had, as is usually the case, made more disturbance than 
the forces of Nature. The Conquistador Alvarado was 
recently dead, his widow, Dona Beatriz de la Cueva, had 
claimed the government, and the obsequies of the dead 
and the ceremonials of the new ruler were agitating the 
city when the sudden and terrible destruction of both 
ruler and her capital came. Accounts of the catastrophe 
vary, as is usual with all history, — which some one has 
wisely called “ probabilities and possibilities extracted 
from lies; ” but from nine extant descriptions and an 
examination of the physical marks which three centuries 
have not wholly effaced, I believe the following to be a 
fair story of the event: — 
September is always a rainy month in Guatemala, and 
on Thursday, the 8th, a storm began which was violent 
even for that place and season. Rain fell in torrents, 
and continued to fall all that day and Friday and Satur¬ 
day. Two hours after dark on the last day a severe 
earthquake shock was felt, and from Hunapu, since 
called the Yolcan de Agua, came an avalanche of water, 
carrying with it immense rocks and entire forests. The ter¬ 
ror of the earthquake and the roar of the unseen torrent 
wrought the excitement of the inhabitants to the utmost. 
Soon the deluge reached the city; the streets were filled to 
overflowing, and the houses were beaten by the waves 
and battered by the great trees brought by the torrent. 
Among the houses most exposed was that of Dona Beatriz, 
the widow of the Adelantado. She was preparing for 
bed ; but startled by the earthquake and the terrible noise, 
endeavored to obtain safety in a small chapel near by, 
and while clinging to the crucifix was killed by the fall 
