LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 161 



informing them that certain reverend men would shortly appear in. 

 the land, who would finish the good work she had devoutly com- 

 menced, and clench the business by baptizing the one million mis- 

 erable sinners who now knelt before El Padre Venabides. 



" Valgame Dios I" reverently exclaimed that worthy man, " qui 

 milagro es este ;" [what a miracle is this I hear ;] and casting up 

 his eyes, and speaking slowly, as if he weighed every word, and 

 taxing his memory of the historical calendar of saints, continued — 



'* Se murio — aquella — santissima — muger — en el ano 175 — es 

 decir — ya liacen — mil — qiiatro — cientos — anos.'" [That most 

 holy woman died in the year 175, that is to say, one thousand 

 four hundred years ago.] 



" Oh, what a strange thing is this I" the padre continues de- 

 voutly. " After so many ages spent in heaven in company of the 

 angels, of most holy men, and of virgins the most pure ; and, per- 

 haps, also in the company of my worthy and esteemed friend and 

 patron, Don Vincente Carvajal y Calvo, who died a few years ago 

 in San Lucar of Xeres (bequeathing me certain arrobas of dry 

 wine, of a class I greatly esteem — for which act he deserved to be 

 canonized, and, I have no doubt, is), the said Don Vincente Car- 

 vajal y Calvo being, moreover, a man of the purest and holiest 

 thoughts (Dios mio ! what a puchero that man always had on his 

 table I) this holy woman comes here — to these wild and remote 

 regions ; this holy woman (who died fifteen hundred years ago), 

 abandoning the company of angels, of holy men, and sanctified 

 women and virgins, and also of Don Vincente Carvajal y Calvo 

 (that worthy man !) — comes here, I say, where there are neither 

 pucheros, nor garbanzos, nor dry wine, nor sweet wine, neither of 

 Xeres, nor of Val de Peiias, nor of Peralta ; where" (sobbed the 

 padre, and bellowed the last word) " there is — nothing either to eat 

 or to drink. Valgame Purissiraa Maria I And what is the name 

 of this holy woman ? the world will ask," continues Venabides. 

 " Santa Clara of Carmona is her name, one well known in my 



