Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/475

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SKETCH OF GUATEMALA.
455
Inhabitants.
Guatemala, now styled Vieja, or Old, contains about 2,000
The Antigua, or Ancient, a most beautiful spot, about 18,000
The Nueva or New Capital, contains 50,000
Sundry Villages within five or six leagues of the Capital, say forty, with a population of 300 souls each 12,000
The City of Guatemala, with its vicinities, contains about 82,000

The annual consumption of beeves in the Nueva, or present capital, is nearly 1000 head; the proportion of swine killed is nearly the same; but scarcely any sheep are slaughtered, and mutton is only used on days of festivity or occasions of compliment; the flocks being valued and preserved chiefly on account of their wool, which is sold at an enormous profit, in the shape of coarse cloaks to the Indians, particularly in Nicaragua and San Salvador, at annual fairs which are held there,—in the latter province at the town of San Miguel, on Ash Wednesday and the 20th of