ipices by the impetuosity of the torrent. The water had exactly the
colour as if it had been mixed with chalk, and by the immense power of
the hurricane it was raised into foaming billows. The noise occasioned
by the rushing of the wind and water was so terrific, that persons could
not hear each other speak, and fathers were unable to render their sons
any assistance.

This direful tempest commenced at ten o'clock on Sunday evening, of the
11th of September, and the whole body of water, stones, and trees came
rolling along over the half of the town of Guatimala, crumbling down the
houses in its progress, strongly built as they were. A great number of
men, women, and children perished in a few moments, and everything they
possessed was lost. Some houses which had withstood the torrent were
blocked up to the topmost windows by mud, pieces of rock, and large
trees. During this tempest, also, Dona Beatriz de la Cueva, the wife of
Pedro de Alvarado, perished, with several other ladies, who had fled to
the chapel, to supplicate the Almighty in prayer to preserve them from
destruction in the tempest. The water and mud rushed with such
impetuosity into the chapel, that it soon gave way, and only three
ladies escaped, one of whom was Alvarado's daughter; the names of the
two others I have forgotten. This young lady, whose name was Leonora,
was fortunately rescued from her perilous situation, between scattered
trees and heaps of stone, and is now the wife of the distinguished
cavalier Don Francisco de la Cueva, by whom she has several fine sons
and daughters.

Many persons declared that they heard during this tempest a fearful kind
of howling, yelling, and whistling, and maintained that numbers of evil
spirits came rolling along with the large pieces of rock; for it would
not have been possible for the water of itself to have moved those heavy
masses of stone and large trees. In the midst of this flood people also
said they saw a cow with one horn, and two monstrous-looking men, like
negroes, with horrible countenances, who kept crying out in a loud
voice: "_Go on! Go on! For all must be destroyed!_" If the inhabitants
looked out of their doors or windows to watch the torrent, they were
seized with such sudden dread, that they fled from their houses from one
street to another, and were at length carried off by the flood, or
sinking into the mud, were hurried with it into the neighbouring river.
The Indians who lived further down