Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/167

CH. X.] whole of them may contain together about 300 religious persons. Each convent has a gratuitous school for the instruction of the poor, in reading and writing, arithmetic, and the principles of religion and morality. In some districts, the religious are curates, and are much beloved by the natives, whom they civilize and teach many useful arts besides those of industry and agriculture: they have sufficient influence in affairs relating to the government, and are very orderly citizens. In the capital, there are, at the most, eight convents of nuns; maintaining themselves on their own funds, and having schools for the instruction of girls: they lead a very regular life. The churches in the capital amount to thirty. They are ornamented in a most costly manner; are magnificent in their construction and munificent in maintaining great pomp and splendour in their respective religious functions: it is certain that, in the republic,