In 1549 the seat of the audiencia of the Confines was removed from Gracias á Dios to Santiago de Guatemala. The former town, now containing but eighteen settlers, was situated in a neighborhood where food for man and beast was difficult to obtain, and was far remote from the more important colonies. In other settlements the condition of affairs was little more prosperous. In Honduras, as elsewhere in Spain's western dominions, the apathy of the Spanish monarch and the disorders caused by the ceaseless struggle for wealth, or the craving for insignificant authority, added greatly to the misery and privation which the early history of colonization throughout the world seldom fails to present. CHAPTER XVIII. PROGRESS OF AFFAIRS IN GUATEMALA. 1541-1550. MOURNING FOR ALVARADO—GRIEF OF DOÑA BEATRIZ—AN ANOMALOUS GOVERNMENT—A FEMALE RULER—A BEAUTIFUL BUT TREACHEROUS MOUNTAIN—A NIGHT OF HORRORS—DEATH OF DOÑA BEATRIZ—DESTRUCTION OF SANTIAGO—A RUINED CITY—BURIAL OF THE DEAD—GLOOM OF CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN SURVIVORS—JOINT GOVERNORS—REMOVAL OF CITY RESOLVED UPON—A NEW SITE DISCUSSED—ANOTHER SANTIAGO FOUNDED—MALDONADO APPOINTED GOVERNOR—ACTION OF THE AUDIENCIA RELATIVE TO ENCOMIENDAS—CONTROVERSIES AND RECRIMINATIONS—REMOVAL OF THE AUDIENCIA TO SANTIAGO—PRESIDENT CERRATO OFFENDS THE SETTLERS—HIS MODE OF ACTION. When the news of Alvarado's death arrived in Santiago[XVIII‑1] during the last days of August 1541, demonstrations of sorrow were on every side; the cathedral was draped in black,[XVIII‑2] and the city put on habiliments of woe; for however bad the man there are few who do not take pleasure in conventional mourning. But the effect of the intelligence upon the adelantado's wife, Doña Beatriz, was so severe as apparently to affect her reason. She beat her face and tore her hair, weeping, screaming, and groaning in a very ecstasy of grief. For days she neither ate nor slept, refusing all consolation. She caused her house to be stained black, both inside and out, and draped it in deepest mourning. All efforts to appease her met with passionate outbursts expressed in language accounted impious,[XVIII‑3] and she repulsed alike the appeals of friends and the religious consolation offered by the priests—all of which was quite pathetic on the part of the bereaved woman. Meantime funeral obsequies were celebrated by Bishop Marroquin with all possible solemnity, prayers being offered each day for the repose of the late conqueror's soul.