Clarence King 



sacred dust from wooden image of 

 Virgin or Saviour ; till at last the old 

 towers and walls, yielding to rain and 

 wind, melt down into the level of 

 humbler ruin. 



The old posadas, while they last, 

 are tenanted by the poorest of the 

 poor. Childless widows too old to 

 work end here in solitary penury their 

 declining days, sister tenants with 

 wandering bats and homeless kids. 



Past such an old and dying church 

 Salazar and I rode, following the di- 

 rections of our hostess and soon 

 drew rein before an old oaken gate in 

 a high wall of ancient masonry. Upon 

 the lintel was rudely cut, as with a 

 pocket-knife, the sign " Forraje." 

 Half the double gate, fallen from its 

 rusty hinges, lay broken and disused 

 on the ground, its place taken by a 

 ragged curtain of woolen cloth, 

 which might once have been a wo- 

 man's cloak. This, with the half gate 



