Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/265

CH. XVII.] fails to excite the admiration of children of her own, and every other, growth; but I was shocked as she used, for every interjection of surprise, the name of our Redeemer, pronouncing it with a guttural tone, which made the word Heezoos! It is lamentable that this irreverend custom should so prevail amongst the South Americans, for, although, without doubt, the expression is innocently used, as I am sure it was in the present instance, it impresses foreigners with ideas of their levity regarding religious subjects, which they are far from intending to manifest, and with which, therefore, they ought not indiscriminately to be charged.

In one of my excursions about the city, I visited the chief spots which had suffered by the earthquakes. To the south, stand the remains of the immense convent of Christ: the portico and a part of a side wall, still having the appearance of being newly erected from the freshness of the masonry, are all that are left to denote the