REMINISCENCES 299 



January the 2nd, 1854. 



Have been on the road since three o'clock this morn- 

 ing and I assure yon that any description one may read 

 of adventurous stage-coach drives through dangerous 

 forests of Italy or Hungary is tame, compared with my 

 latest experience. While the panorama which opened 

 and closed before our eyes occasionally was truly grand 

 and surpassed anything I had ever seen, the drive up and 

 down the narrow roads along the mountain sides were 

 often so frightfully unsafe that every step of a horse's 

 foot sent a chill through my body. The fact that we hap- 

 pened to be in the rainy season, which makes the road 

 more slippery than usual, did not contribute to my com- 

 fort. At last we reached the long-spoken-of road which 

 is about six miles in length and, passing the river San 

 Bonito and its tributaries here and there, leads us 

 straight to the Mission of San Juan. 



These missions all look alike to me. The church is in 

 ruins, with uncommonly thick adobe walls and tile roof— 

 and right close by is the church-yard, likewise surround- 

 ed by thick adobe walls. The residences of the monks, 

 who generally live in barracks, built in the same style as 

 the Mission churches, are very simple and give the whole 

 a rather mediaeval appearance. It will seem odd to every 

 stranger that these structures have windows without 

 panes of glass, which, it is said, are enormously high- 

 priced in this country and were evidently not at all to be 

 had when the good mission-fathers brought civilization 

 to the natives. All the missions I have seen so far: the 

 Dolores, Santa Clara and San Juan Bantista, are built on 

 the same plan. After a good rest we prepared for an- 

 other long ride, which proved to be worse than the first 

 part of the trip, as the road was in places so rocky and 

 mountainous that I expected any moment to have my 

 ribs broken or dislocated. Whenever the thought of my 

 own safety would permit it, I drank in the magnificent 

 air from the virgin forests which beckoned us to stay. 

 Oli! it was a glorious drive and when sunset came we 

 were approaching what 1 first had taken for my new 



