To this situation removed in succession the university, parishes, convents, and churches, as their different buildings were completed. "Many of the artizans and a great part of the people still wished to remain in their old abodes, "but in the month of June, 1779, the governor issued a proclamation, (certainly a tyrannical one,) commanding that every inhabitant should quit the city within a prescribed number of days, and that from the date of the proclamation "no artificer should there exercise his trade, without being liable to very severe penalties." In compliance with these positive orders," the city from being the busy haunt of men, was at once transformed into a dreary solitude." It remained in this state for some time, until at length many of its former occupants covertly resumed their abodes, and it has by degrees, again become peopled, though far inferior both in size, population, and wealth, to New Guatimala.

This city as the present capital of the republic of the United Provinces, merits a more minute description. It is situated in the midst of the plain of La Virgen, which is five leagues in diameter, and forms part of the Valley of Mexco, one of the nine smaller valleys, which constitute what is termed the great Vale of Guatimala or Pasuya. It lies in 14° 37" N. latitude, and

90° 30" W. longitude,* and is 90 leagues from the Atlantic, 26 from the Pacific, and 400 from the city of Mexico.

The valley is watered by several streams and lakes, which conduce to its fertility, and the city is surrounded by numerous small villages, which regularly supply its markets with the various fruits and vegetables of the country. In point of situation it is certainly inferior to the old city. The scenery is not so romantic, nor are the lands immediately adjoining so well cultivated, yet still it is rich enough in natural beauties to bear in this respect, comparison with almost any other city in the world.

Owing to the style in which the houses are built, it occupies a very considerable portion of ground, and appears to an European eye, when viewed from a little distance, much more populous and extensive than it really is. It contains about sixty manzanas or squares of houses, formed by the intersection of streets at right angles, which vary in extent from 150 to 350 yards in front, and these are arranged so as to form one large square. On each side of the city, as the suburbs have increased, other houses have been erected without much regard to uniformity.

* Juarros states the latitude and longitude to be 14° 40" N. latitude, and 91° 46" W. longitude, but the author has reason to believe, that those he has given on the authority of Mr. Kirkwood, will be found to approximate nearer to the true position.

The streets are mostly broad, but wretchedly paved, with a considerable declivity on each side, which forms a gutter in the middle, so that while after a heavy shower of rain, they are almost impassable from the sudden stream of water, at other times the sharp pointed and ill arranged pebbles extort groans from the unhappy sufferer, who, in light shoes, is doomed to undergo the miserable penance of passing over them.

In walking through the city, the first thought that strikes a stranger is, that Guatimala is one of the dullest places he has ever entered. This melancholy appearance is chiefly occasioned by the way in which the houses are built. Consisting of only one story, and occupying a great deal of ground, they present to the street only a series of white washed walls and red tiled roofs, with here and there a window, carefully guarded by large bars of iron, and a pair of massy folding doors, studded on the outside with heavy nails, thus giving to it, at the best of times, more the appearance of a deserted than an inhabited city.

The plaza or market-place is a square of about 150 yards each way, with a fountain in the middle, and besides the daily market, is occupied by numerous temporary shops or stalls, and surrounded by buildings, offices, and shops. Projecting piazzas form a covered walk on three

sides, under which trifling articles are exposed for sale. The public buildings are numerous, and consist of an university, five convents, four nunneries, a cathedral, four parish churches, and fifteen other churches or chapels of minor importance; besides a treasury, mint, and other government offices. Most of these are in a good style of architecture, and some of them judiciously decorated. In comparison with the churches of Puebla and Mexico they may possess few attractions, but remembering the circumstances under which they were built, they do credit both to the zeal and taste of those who superintended their erection.

Most of the images of the saints, termed by Juarros "beautiful statues," are very common pieces of sculpture, and disfigured by absurd and vulgar dresses, while many of the paintings which he says are "by the best masters" are only very ordinary copies. The utensils of gold and silver are splendid, and among other ornaments, the church of St. Domingo has a statue of the Virgin del Rosario, nearly six feet high, of massy silver.

The history of the university is not very interesting. The first lectures were delivered in the old city, about 1620, and a rector, students, and collegial form of discipline were regularly appointed in 1678. Lectures were delivered accord

ing to the old scholastic method until 1778, when the first course of experimental philosophy was begun. Juarros speaks of examinations in surgery, of a royal cabinet of natural history, of schools of mathematics, and a college of physicians. All these things may have existed, but in the present day they are unknown. The examination? have ceased, the cabinet is without specimens, and the college of physicians, and the schools of mathematics alike destitute of students and professors.

The vanity which prompted Juarros to speak of these institutions in the way he has done, seems to be a national vice. Similar instances are occurring every day, especially in the speeches of the public authorities, and in the statements of the weekly papers. A stranger looking through the latter, would receive the impression that a military college, a national bank, and Lancasterian schools were long ago established in the republic, but on inquiry he will find that, although each of these has been proposed in the assembly, reported upon and agreed to, not one of them has ever been commenced.

In connexion with the university, there are twelve professorships, and an academical senate of fifty doctors. It is needless to enumerate the chairs. They are of Latin, philosophy, theology, morals, &c. What the precise mode of impart