Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/65

Rh down from the cross, and several images, but was, in other respects, very plain. Here the villagers assemble to say mass, every feast day. A small bell raised above the building, serves to call them together out of the valley, and were it to join in simple and spiritual worship, it would yield in such solitudes as these, one of the most interesting and delightful of sounds.

From Omoyta to San José the country is for the most part sterile, and the scenery uninteresting. After passing one or two considerable barrancas, the road suddenly turns by a beautifull little spot, cultivated with the sugar cane. A good house, belonging to the proprietor, and a trapiché or sugar mill, surrounded by a luxuriant plantation, and well watered by a stream, running through the grounds, appeared a little paradise in the midst of these wilds.

About three leagues further, the country becomes exceedingly mountainous, and the roads very rugged. Several of these mountains are supposed to contain rich veins of silver, but they have never been worked, and from their locality, the attempt would be difficult and expensive. A little beyond these flow two considerable streams powerfully sulphureous; one hot, the other cold: near the source of the former the temperature of the water is boiling heat.