After our breakfast, I called at the house of the curate, but he was absent; asserting the prerogative of the traveller, I thereupon introduced myself to the priest in charge, and informed him that I was a stranger, and should not be ungrateful for any attentions that might be bestowed upon me in that character. His reception was rather cool; but, as my object was to obtain information, I affected not to notice it. After some trivial delays, I was enabled to visit the church which had so struck my eye as I approached the city, and which I was desirous of seeing. It is situated in the centre of the city, upon an artificial elevation, which once, no doubt, was the site of some important structure of the ancient people who formerly inhabited this province. It was probably destroyed to make room for a monastery—the ruins of which (the church which forms a part of it being preserved) cover some acres of land. The church was filled with rude carving, and with still more rude and incomprehensible paintings. Within the walls, which encompass the whole of the grounds, is a square that once must have been a magnificent place, but which is now totally neglected. It has on three sides a double row of pillars, forming a beautiful promenade, from which the country, as far as the eye can reach, is overlooked. The priest who conducted me over the premises, seemed to know nothing of the church in which he officiated, and even less, if possible, of the city and its environs, whence came the patronage on which he subsisted. The Latin inscription upon the builder’s tablet was incomprehensible to him; but it is no more than justice to say, that he was evidently chagrined by the ignorance which he had been forced to exhibit. He conducted me to the turret, and pointed out the clock for my inspection; it was a rare piece of mechanism; but the most striking part of it was a _live_ Indian stationed beside it, to strike the hours. The towns throughout this portion of the interior are well laid out, and the houses well built; every thing looks as though they might be inhabited by a stirring people. Arriving in one of them at the close of the day, the stranger is led to attribute the pervading quiet to that particular time; in the morning he would think the same; but, at morning, noon, and night, the same composing monotony reigns, and all days, (those of the feasts excepted,) and all places, are alike. A listless apathy seems to hang around them—a pervading stillness and inactivity, which are painful to observe. The principal stores are kept by the whites, who, in the ratio of population, are to the Indians, about as one to six. Their stock comprises all descriptions of goods required by the inhabitants; among which the article of distilled liquors is the most prominent—the demand for which, I observed, increased, as I advanced into the interior.