Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/89

Rh is deceived. It seems to be an understood regulation, that whatever may be the workings within, nothing shall disturb the serenity of the surface, so that even in time of civil war, when factions and party spirit are at their height, and the deepest hatreds are cherished, the external quiet of society remains unmolested. Were this all it might be tolerated; but the moral effects of systematic deception, are too melancholy to make one wish to see tranquillity purchased at so high a price.

About ten o'clock the different members of the family sit down to a supper, differing little from the dinner, eat heartily of its various dishes, and with stomachs loaded to a degree that would make most people tremble for fear of apoplexy, retire to bed, and in half an hour are all soundly asleep. In the more religious families recitations of about a quarter of an hour in length, and mostly to the Virgin, are practised on those evenings when there are no visitersvisitors [sic].

The superstitious and intolerant feelings of an uneducated population are lamentably visible among the lower orders. As the archbishop passes in his carriage through the streets, the poor Indians are to be seen on either side most devoutly kneeling, and so ignorant are they of the object to which they bow, that they repeat the ceremony not only when the empty carriage