Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/167

Rh of the mountains, and commands a fine prospect of the plain of Guatimala, the city, the mountains, and the different Indian villages, scattered about them, forming a panoramic view from this situation remarkably interesting. The house and walks are elevated and laid out in the Italian style. Three stone terraces rise one above another, and a very fine archway adorns the entrance to the outer court. An immense aqueduct on the upper terrace supplies several stone reservoirs, and affords a sufficient quantity of water, both for the sugar mill on the second terrace, and for the irrigation of the whole of the land. Below and all around the buildings, are sugar plantations, orange and lime groves, nopaleras separated by hedge rows of plantain trees, and small Indian huts for the people employed on the estate. The works and edifices alone are said to have cost the original contriver £20,000 sterling; but in so careless a manner are these things executed, that the aqueduct is led through other estates, and is liable at any time to be cut off. This delightful spot is now in the hands of a company of individuals, who leave it to the care of an agent, who in his turn commends it to the care of nature. Neglect appears in every branch, half the produce is wasted, and the buildings are allowed to fall into decay.