Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/66

Rh From hence at the distance of about a league, is the village of San José. The spot on which it stands has many natural advantages, but the houses are wretchedly built, and the accommodations miserable.

Leaving San José, the road to Guatimala lies for several leagues, over a narrow and elevated plain. On each side are deep valleys thickly wooded, chiefly with pine and evergreen oaks, and behind these rise undulating lines of hills, backed by high mountains. As we approach nearer the city, the eye opens on an extensive plain studded with trees, and ornamented by numerous hedge rows, enclosing the lands near the capital. In the midst of the plain stands the city of New Guatimala.

Its appearance from this spot about a league distant, is singularly picturesque. Its numerous turrets and cupolas, glistening in the sun, and its white low houses regularly arranged at right angles, with orange trees, thickly interspersed among the buildings, form a middle ground, while the mountains encircling it, and especially the beautiful “Volcano de Agua,” as it is termed, generally crowned by clouds, complete a picture, which, for interest and beauty, will bear comparison with any prospect in the world.

The descent from this elevated situation into the valley is by a road cut out of the rock, and