arose respecting a change in the site of the city. B. XV. It was finally resolved that the site should be Ch. 8. changed. Some thought that it should be in the valley of Petapa, and many were of opinion that it should be in that of Mixco; but so rooted were the majority of them to that particular locality and so desirous were they of being near their farms, that after the first alarm had worn off, they did not move to a greater distance than a league Site of or half a league from their former position, changed. choosing the driest part of the valley to the the city 390 Foundation of the Second Town. B. XV. north-east of the old town.* One circumstance Ch. 8. that helped to confirm them in their determina tion was, that the Indians were accustomed to come to the Valley of Panchoy with provisions, and to render personal services, and that it might be difficult to get them to come to another spot.† At no time were the personal services of the Indians more precious than at the building of a town, for all the burdens fell upon their muchvexed shoulders. Some humanity was shown at this period by the authorities of Guatemala in limiting the weight that any Indian was to carry to two arrobas.‡ The 4th of December, 1543, was the day on which the Spaniards took possession of their new quarters. The former town was now called the Ciudad Vieja. * According to JUARROS (Hist. | hundred years, until, after the de Guatemala, tom. 2, trat. 6, great one of 1773, a new spot cap. 4), a government engineer was chosen, at a distance of arrived most opportunely at this twenty-six miles from the old juncture, and it was by his advice, city. and contrary to the first wishes of the majority of the inhabitants, that the second site of the town was chosen. I do not give credit to this statement, notwithstanding its being supported by many probable details; and I suspect that Antoneli's report had reference to some other occasion on which a change of site was in discussion. The investigation of the earth's surface was a study not known in those times, and the second town of Guatemala remained to be a mark for earthquakes for a + y estar ya los Indios de la tierra acostumbrados á venir en aquella parte, con la provision y servicio, y fuera muy dificultoso llevarlos á otra parte.' REMESAL, Hist. de Chiapa y Guatemala, lib. 7, cap. 2. An arroba is twenty-five pounds, Castillian measure. In the other provinces of Spain the weight slightly varied. See Jos. GARCIA CAVALLero. Breve Cotejo y Valance de los pesos, y medidas de varias naciones, &c. Madrid, 1731. "Audiencia" for Guatemala appointed. 391 Ch. 8. appointed Guatemala. The joint government of the Bishop and of B. XV. Don Francisco de la Cueva did not subsist long, being superseded by an Audiencia appointed in Audiencia the ensuing year, 1542, which was to govern both for Nicaragua and Guatemala, and for that purpose to have its seat of government on the confines of these two provinces, on which account it was called "La Audiencia de los Confines." The President named was Alonzo de Maldonado,* an Auditor of the Royal Audiencia of Mexico, already well known to the readers of this history as having signed, when Governor, the agreement with Las Casas and the Dominicans, by virtue of which the spiritual and peaceful conquest of "the Land of War" had been accomplished. BERNAL DIAZ, speaking of another Maldonado, describes the Governor of Guatemala as "Alonzo Maldonado the Good." "No es este el Licenciado Alonso Maldonado el bueno, que fué Governador de Guatemala." -Cap. 196. B. XV. Ch. 9. CHAPTER IX. TRIUMPH OF THE DOMINICANS IN GUATEMALA "THE LAND OF WAR" IS CALLED แ "THE LAND OF PEACE" THE FINAL LABOURS AND Death of DOMINGO DE BETANZOS. THE history of Guatemala oscillates curiously between Church and State. Now, amidst the crowd of wild men, and in the progress of strange events, a steel-clad personage stands forth preeminently, marshalling the order of battle; now a cowled and sandalled figure, strong only in its humbleness, is seen to prevail over enemies not less fierce, and to exercise a sway compared with which that of the warrior is poor, transitory, and superficial. Something of this kind of alternation is visible throughout the early annals of the New World, but its character is more distinctly marked in Guatemala than elsewhere. Having shown what the civil government of Guatemala had finally settled down into, our narrative returns to the deserted Dominican monastery in that city, which happily was not long left uninhabited this Pedro de time, as Pedro de Angulo came back from the Chapter of his Order, which had been held in Guatemala. Mexico in the year 1538, bringing with him four Angulo other Dominican monks-two of whom afterwards became very celebrated for their zeal—namely, Return of Luis Cancér to Santiago. 393 Father Juan de Torres and Father Matthias de Paz. Amongst other things for which the latter is much praised was his introduction of the use of the rosary, in order to extirpate, it is said, the superstitions* of the Indians. The private history of Father Matthias is curious. He had fled from matrimony to monastic life; and on the very day, it is said, that he was to have been married, he preferred the espousals of the Church to those other espousals "which the world so much esteems and desires."+ B. XV. Ch. 9. of Luis In the year 1542, after an absence of four years, Luis Cancér, the companion of Las Casas, Return returned to his monastery at Santiago, or probably Cancér. to the new monastery in the new town, and joined his brother, Pedro de Angulo, bringing with him the various decrees which Las Casas had obtained in favour of the Indians of Tuzulutlan. Father Luis had also, by dint of dint of many entreaties, persuaded a guardian of the Order of San Francisco to give him some Indians who knew how to sing and to play church music.‡ "De los santos fundadores | Domingo de México, pidio el hizo mucho el santo fray Matías hábito, y le recibió, trocando de Paz, plantando (para extirpar estas bodas por aquellas que sus supersticiones) la santa devo- tanto el mundo estima y apecion del Rosario de la Vírgen tece, como en quien consiste nuestra Señora en los Indios." su aumento y conservacion."-FERNANDEZ, Hist. Eccles., REMESAL, Hist. de Chiapa y cap. 41. Guatemala, lib. 3, cap. 20. "He oydo dezir dél á persona fide digna, que conoció y trató al Padre fray Matías, que estando concertado para casarse, la noche que se avia de desposar se fué al convento de Santo The following extract will show what attention the Franciscans wisely gave to the cultivation of music amongst their new converts:-" Ogni giorno cantiamo la messa in questo |