240 IN THE OLD WEST 



there are neither pucheros, nor garbanzos, nor 

 dry wine, nor sweet wine, neither of Xeres, nor 

 of Val de Pefias, nor of Peralta; where " (sobbed 

 the padre, and bellowed the last word) " there is 

 nothing either to eat or to drink. Valgame 

 Purissima Maria! And what is the name of this 

 holy woman? the world will ask," continues Ven- 

 abides. " Santa Clara of Carmona is her name, 

 one well known in my native country, who leaves 

 heaven and all its joys, wends her way to the dis- 

 tant wilds of New Spain, and spends years in in- 

 ducting the savage people to the holy faith. 

 Truly a pious work, and pleasing to God ! " * 



Thus spoke Venabides the Franciscan, and no 

 doubt he believed what he said; and many others 

 in Old Spain were fools enough to believe it too, 

 for the shaven heads flocked over in greater num- 

 bers, and the cry was ever, " still they come." 



Along the whole extent of the table-lands, not 

 an Indian tribe but was speedily visited by the 

 preaching friars and monks ; and in less than a 

 century after the conquest of Mexico by the 

 Spaniards, these hardy and enthusiastic frayles 

 had pushed their way into the inhospitable regions 

 of New Mexico, nearly two thousand miles distant 

 from the valley of Anahuac. How they succeeded 

 in surmounting the natural obstacles presented by 



* From a manuscript obtained in Santa Fe" of New Mex- 

 ico, describing the labors of the missionaries Fray Augustin 

 Ruiz, Venabides, and Marcos, in the year 1585. 



