BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1901-10-30
ACROSS old GUATEMALA.


The morning Of the feast Of Santo Domingo
was unusually beautiful. AS it was Sunday
tie bells kept up such clatter that after
Eve O'Clock. sleep was out of the question
The storm of the preceding night had passed |
away. There was blue sky overhead and
the wet psvements needed only an hours
sunshine to prepare them for tue thousands
Of mass-goers who, ere long, would crowd
the streets. Into the grey daWE two travellers
stepped. From their costume they might
be intending tramp through the Bernese
Oberland or an outing among the Kattskills.
AS II was, their innocent intention was to
"do" some of the more interesting spots of
Gatemala after the old student. fashion.
1t was too early for tramcars. Shops were
closed, the Indians from the surrounding
country-and some Of them had travelled
many leagues-tcere coming into market
with their loads of pottery, cotton cloths,
blankets, and vegetables. Gradually the
sleeping city awoke. The sun came up, and
the canlinas and bakeries attended to the
wants of the thirsty and hungry. About
half-past seven we reached the suburb Guar
da Viejo. The President had declared a
Especial feast here for the day, and along the
Highway, booths were being hurriedly erected,
banners thrown to the breeze, roulette tables
set up, and among the rapidly growing
crowd of natives sharpers and fakirs were
already beginning to ply their vocation. At
Guarda Viejo the Guatemala Central Rail.
!, way Company has laid out beautiful park
and established a ''zoO" that may eventually
develop into something. With Sunday ex.
cursion.trains and genuine beer garden
the place has become popular pleasure
resort.
After coffee, we leave streets and houses
and take the country road that leads to Mix
co. 1t Is an ancient highway Of the Quiches,
and along it one sees an incongruous blend.
ing of the old and the new. There are
beautiful fincas on either side, waving corn
fields and pasture.land. The landmarks and
gate posts are immense exhumed idols, OF
! the pre- Spanish period. Great mounds, yes
tiges Of the old civilization, are to be seen
dotting the landscape. Every new and
again q stage-coach and four passes us on
its scay to Antigua. Beside the coaches trot
} Indians in the picturesque costumes of the
period OF the conquest. The Indian never
scalks, no matter how heavy his load may
be. His dog-trot is kept up from morning
until night, and the pace of the women is
invariably faster than that of the mep.
|, For six miles there is gradual ascent,
Behind rs the valley widens, disclosing viii
lagos here and there in the plain. The city
itself seems small aud insignificant, all bui
the churches, OF which a score tower above
their surroundings as though loath to. lose
the supremacy that they held for niue gener
ations. Ia the twentieth century it seem
strange that impartial history should declare
, q n aJo mr. mi
days to have been those when she was il
bondage to the Church. Yet the rule O
educated priests, though they had no tolera
ton for heretics, Was infinitely superior tt
that of barbarous, half Indian PRESIDENT
who punish enterprise and development will
confscation and Punishment, and fre,
speech with imprisonment and death.
The Pueblo of Mixco.
Suddenly deep baranca appears befor'
us. On the opposite side, at the base of
steep mountain, white and glistenins agains
the green background, is the pueblo o.
Mixoo. The road to the bottom of tn,
. baranca is q dugway, the mountain side O
which is heavily shaded. From every crew
ice the water trickles, and there is acall O
living ferns and mOsseS that remind one O.
more northern cline. A little creek flow.
! through the bed Of the caiion, and along it,
banks are the ruins of an old Spanish tOwr
, that was destroyed by earthquake before
Guatemala was dreamed of. 1t is a steep
climb from this point to Mixco. Long before
We reach the village the clangor of the church
bells, the boom of cannon, rattle of crackers
and hiss Of rockets let us know thet some
thing out of the ordinary is on the docket.
The old church at Mi1co Uas filled, but
the plaza in front Of it wss crowded, save
for the little space occupied by the antique
Spanish cannon. The throng did show
some respect for che old thunderers that we're
in imminent danger Of bursting with every
discharge. There was gaudy profusion o.
colOrs. The sleeveless seapiles Of the wo
men were as Josephs fablsd coat, and theil