Every Saturday brings from the country to the streets of this city a horde of Indian beggars, who are not to be seen here upon any other day of the week, and to whom alms are liberally distributed by the inhabitants. This is a custom, no doubt, that is handed down from the time of the conquest. The friars were in the habit of giving charity to the poor on the same day. The city, including the suburbs outside the walls, contains a population of about fifteen thousand. There is an “alamede” outside these walls, which affords a pretty little place for a walk, and there are pleasant drives around in the neighborhood. There is a college in Campeachy similar to that of Merida, with six professors, the highest salary of any one of whom is six hundred dollars per annum. There are fifty-five pupils, besides thirteen on the foundation. Like all other literary institutions in this country, it is poorly supported. The town of Campeachy, built entirely of a calcareous hewn stone, stands upon a foundation of the same substance, which extends throughout the whole peninsula, retreating from the sea-shore with a gradual elevation, until it reaches to the height of five hundred feet, the level of Sierra Alta, near Tecax. This immense rock has doubtless furnished material, before the conquest, for the construction of those stupendous temples, and other magnificent buildings, that now constitute the ruins of this country. The whole of Campeachy rests upon a subterraneous cavern of the ancient Mayas. It is now difficult to ascertain whether these quarries or galleries, which, according to the traditions of the country, are understood to be immense, served for the abode of the people who executed the work. Nothing reveals the marks of man’s sojournings here; not even the traces of smoke upon the vaults were visible. It is more probable that the greater part of this excavation was used as a depository for their dead. This supposition has been strengthened by the discovery of many openings of seven feet deep by twenty inches in breadth, dug horizontally in the walls of the caverns. These excavations, however, are few; and the galleries have been but little investigated and less understood. Even the inhabitants of the dwellings above know scarcely any thing respecting these dark habitations. These catacombs occasion frequent accidents. “Some time before my arrival,” says Waldeck, “the centre of Moille street caved in. Happily, this gallery did not extend beneath the houses. Arches were erected that brought the street to its original level, by the aid of a French engineer, M. Journot.” The principal suburbs of Campeachy are San Roman to the south of the town, Guadaloupe and San Francisco to the north. Each of these has its church. The city has three churches and five convents.