On the morning of our departure from La Antigua Guatemala, we rode through the Plaza and passed near to the ancient palace of the Spanish governors, the public buildings, and the cathedral. All these ruins looked beautiful in the clear light of dawn. [Illustration: Volcan de Agua. Volcan de Fuego.] As the sun rose we began to ascend the hills. When we reached the summit I stopped for a few minutes for the purpose of observing, towards the south, the lofty cones of Agua and Fuego whose graceful outlines were clear and distinct in the atmosphere of a deep blue tropical sky. In the forenoon we reached Chimaltenango, which was once a place of importance but is now becoming deserted. Beyond this town we followed a track leading to the village of Comolapa, and had to descend an abrupt and deep ravine, which crossed that part of the country. We then rode up a long hill and passed near several groups of oak trees, whose leafless branches were made gay by clusters of brilliantly coloured orchids. Upon arriving at Comolapa, I obtained a room in a little inn, where we arranged to remain for the night, having already accomplished a distance of nine leagues. The parish priest, Padre Rodriguez, proposed that I should join him at supper, at which meal there also appeared a Mexican, travelling on his way to Guatemala from the frontier, and who was able to give me some useful intelligence about the roads and the political state of the country in the province of Chiapas. The Padre spoke with earnestness about the difficulties he had to overcome with regard to the teaching of the Catholic doctrines. He said that there were more than two thousand Indians under his charge. They attended church as a custom, and seemed to take part in the services, yet, he was certain that in their hearts they retained a faith in their ancient worship, and that they had shrines concealed amongst the mountains where they kept their idols. He had also found, by experience, that there was the greatest repugnance amongst them to all attempts at education, and no children would attend school after they were seven or eight years old. We looked at the interior of the church. Some of the wood carvings at the altars were well designed and executed. Over the western porch there was a large coat-of-arms, with lions as supporters. In this district a great number of the Mexican allies, who accompanied Alvarado in the conquest of Guatemala, were given lands, and many of them, during the early periods of the Spanish occupation, were men of considerable wealth; but their descendants and their families have now disappeared or have become merged into the aboriginal population.