The Church Bell 119g 
are tried by him, and his decisions depend generally on the 
private influence that is brought to bear upon him. He is 
often a tool in the hands of some unprincipled lawyer. The 
church at Libertad is a great barn-like edifice, with tiled 
roof. At one side is a detached small bell-tower, in which 
hang two bells, one sound and whole, the other cracked and 
patched. The latter was a present from one of the mining 
companies, and had excited a great scandal. The mining 
company had a fine large bell, with which they called to- 
gether their workmen. The priest of Libertad, thinking it 
might be much better employed in the service of the church, 
made an application for it. The superintendent of the mine 
could not part with it, but having an old broken bell, he had 
it patched up, and sent it out with a letter, explaining that 
he could not let them have the other, but that if this one 
was of any use, they were welcome to it. The priest heard 
that the bell was on the road, and thinking it was the one he had 
coveted, got up a procession to go and meet it, to take it to 
its place with befitting ceremony. But when he saw the old 
battered and broken article that had been sent, his satis- 
faction was changed to rage, instead of blessing he cursed it, 
threw it to the ground, and even kicked and spat upon it. 
His rage for a time knew no bounds, as he thought that he 
had been mocked by the heretical foreigners, and his in- 
dignation was at first shared by some of the principal inhabi- 
tants of the town, but when the explanatory letter had been 
interpreted to them, their feelings changed, and the poor 
bell was put up to do what duty it could. There are some 
good stores in Libertad, the best being branches of Granada 
houses that buy the produce of the country—hides, india- 
rubber, and gold—for export, and import European manu- 
factured goods. 
Captain Velasquez joined me at Libertad, and, after 
getting breakfast, we started. The road passes over grassy 
hills, on which cattle and mules were feeding. The edge of 
the forest is not far distant to the right, and all the way along 
it there have been clearings made and maize planted. As 
we rode along, great numbers of a brown, tailed butterfly 
(Timetes chiron) were flying over to the south-east. They 
occurred, as it were, in columns. The air would be com- 
paratively clear of them for a few hundred yards, then we 
