LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 165 



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 ; while 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 lable-lands of the Rocky Mountains, and excit- 

 ed 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 to- 

 gether), living, at their own choice, upon the flesh of mule, or ox, 

 or horse. 



