e Padre's confident report of the latter, because his
account of the former had already been verified, and become a matter of
fact and of record. He, Senor Velasquez, himself, during the preceding
summer, joined a party of several foreigners and natives in exploring an
ancient ruined city, of prodigious grandeur and extent, in the province
of Vera Paz, but little more than 150 miles to the east of Guatimala,
(instead of nearly 200, as the Padre had supposed,) which far surpassed
in magnificence every other ruin, as yet discovered, either in Central
America or Mexico. It lay overgrown with huge timber in the midst of a
dense forest, far remote from any settlement, and near the crater of a
long extinct volcano, on whose perpendicular walls, 300 or 400 feet
high, were aboriginal paintings of warlike and idolatrous processions,
dances, and other ceremonies, exhibiting like the architectural
sculptures on the temples, a state of advancement in the arts
incomparably superior to all previous examples. And as the good Padre
had proved veracious and accurate on this matter, which he knew from
personal observation, the Senor would not uncharitably doubt his
veracity on a subject in which he again professed to speak from the
evidence of his own eye-sight.

The party thus re-assured, and more exhilarated than ever with the
prospect of success, proceeded on their journey with renewed vigor.
Although the Senor modestly abstains from any allusion to the subject,
in the MSS. which have reached us, it cannot be doubted that Messrs.
Huertis and Hammond considered him an invaluable accession to their
party. He was a guide on whom they could rely; he was acquainted with
the dialects of many of the Indian tribes through which they would have
to pass; was familiar with the principal stages and villages on their
route, and knew both the places and persons from whence the best
information, if any, concerning the paramount object of their journey,
could be obtained.

It appears, also, from an incidental remark in his journal, that Senor
Velasquez would have been at their right hand in a fight, in the event
of any hostile obstruction on their way. As a volunteer, he had held a
command under Morazan, during the sanguinary conflicts of the republic,
and had been a soldier through several of the most arduous campaigns, in
the fierce struggle between the general and Carrera. He was thus,
apparently, in all respects, precisely such an auxiliary as t