LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 197 



passed the arid and barren wilderness of the North- 

 West. The adobe walls of the convent-looking building, 

 surmounted by cross and belfry, are generally hidden 

 in a mass of luxuriant vegetation. Fig-trees, bananas, 

 cherry, and apple, leaf-spreading platanos, and groves 

 of olives, form umbrageous vistas, under which the 

 sleek monks delight to wander ; gardens, cultivated by 

 their own hands, testify to the horticultural skill of the 

 worthy padres; whilst vineyards yield their grateful 

 produce to gladden the hearts of the holy exiles in these 

 western solitudes. Vast herds of cattle roam half-wild 

 on the plains, and bands of mules and horses, whose 

 fame has even reached the distant table-lands of the 

 Rocky Mountains, and excited the covetousness of the 

 hunters and thousands of which, from the day they 

 are foaled to that of their death, never feel a saddle on 

 their backs cover the country. Indians (Mansitos) 

 idle round the skirts of these vast herds, (whose very 

 numbers keep them together), living, at their own 

 choice, upon the flesh of mule, or ox, or horse. 



