chions
protected the windows of the ground-floors; heavy fastenings secured
the doors, whose surface was a fretwork of iron. Loop-holes for musketry
usually guarded each side of the entrance, and a "grille," like that of
a convent, showed that no stranger could be admitted un interrogated.
Many of the houses were surrounded by regular outworks of moat and
bastion, while here and there an old rusty cannon, half hid among the
weeds, would show more pretentious, though possibly not very efficient,
means of defence.

Of shrines, holy wells, and altars there was no end. The superstitious
character of the Gambusino life had been adroitly laid hold of by the
priests, who rarely fail to turn each phase of existence to their own
profit, and, in this spot, the priestly hierarchy appeared to have
nothing so near at heart as the success of the "Placers." Here were
pictured virgins, looking blandly down at a group of very ill-favored
half-breeds, at a washing; there was an old negro presenting a massive
lump of gold to St. Joseph, who, with a sly look, seemed to promise
not to forget the donor. St. Francis himself, pick in hand, was seen
laboring at the head of a sturdy gang of workmen, and angels of all
sizes appeared to busy themselves in gold-seeking, as though it were
their natural pastime.

Upon several of the altars, pieces of solid gold and silver lay, in a
security that said much for the religious zeal of the inhabitants, while
lamps of pure silver hung in a profusion on 'wery side,--surrounded by
votive offerings of the same metal,--such as shovels, barretas, picks,
and sieves. Nor did piety limit itself merely to incentives to "stand
well with the saints;" some most terrible examples of the opposite line
of conduct were conspicuously displayed. Pictures representing dreadful
catastrophes, by falling masses of rock, irruptions of torrents, and
down-pouring cataracts, showed what fates were ever in store for those
who "forgot the Church." And, as if to heighten the effect, whenever
a cayman or a jaguar was "sloping off" with a miner in his mouth, a
respectable saint was sure to be detected in the offing, wiping his eyes
in compassion, but not stirring a finger to his assistance.

I will not say that these specimens of pictorial piety induced any
strong religious feeling to my mind, but they certainly amused me
highly; and although hungry from a long fast, I stopped full twenty
times on my way to the Posada to gaze and won