toy-like representation of the Nativity, with small dolls crudely suggesting the shepherds and the Magi visiting the manger. A great array of candles are set in front and all around the tawdry show, and all day long crowds of the poorer classes stand gazing spellbound at the marvel. All the other churches in the city have some similar exhibition during Christmas week, and the crowds go from one to another, eager to see all they can for nothing. The church of La Merced, which stands in the Calle Real, in what used to be the extreme limit of the city, is built from the materials gathered at the ruins of the old church of the same name that stood in the ancient city of Panama. The church stands at a street corner, and on the left of the main entrance, occupying the corner of the building, is a small chapel, some sixteen feet square, with a door from either street. At all times some worshipper is to be found inside this little sanctuary, for so conveniently situated is it that passers-by have only to step a few feet out of their way to be within its walls. Women with great bundles on their heads step in, cross themselves, mutter a word or two, and are not detained more than a few seconds by their devotions; whilst the man of business and small urchins rush through one door and out at the other, to save the turning at the corner of the street. The oldest church in the city, that of San Felipi Nevi, has the date “1688” carved on a shield above its entrance, but the more modern buildings that have sprung up around it almost hide it from view. Its walls are about five feet in thickness, which doubtless accounts for it still standing. The cathedral in the Central Plaza, the largest building in the city, is in a very good state of repair, and is generally well attended. It has two lofty towers surmounted with conical domes covered with oyster-shells, which glisten and sparkle in the sun. The front of the church is richly moulded and faced with flat, fluted, and engaged columns. In the niches sculptured figures representing the twelve apostles are placed, while at the top, in the centre, is placed an effigy of the Virgin. The whole building is painted over with a disagreeable colour-wash of saffron hue, an act of vandalism that could only occur in a country that pays little or no regard to the upkeep of its public buildings. Another instance of the scant attention and regard for ancient monuments can be seen in the ruins of the once noble church of St. Dominic. The roof of this large building has long since disappeared, probably during one of the numerous fires that have played such havoc in the city. There remains, however, in this church a most extraordinary specimen of building construction--a large arch of over sixty feet span, near the principal entrance, has caused much discussion amongst engineers and architects. It is practically flat, having no other support than its terminal columns. How it has survived the