A monument to their piety 



doubt of their sincerity, and it is with 

 reverence that you watch them enter the 

 chapel door, still upon their knees. They 

 are cargadores; you can see where they 

 have left their bundles at the foot of 

 the hill, after having come many a mile 

 out of their way to pay their homage 

 to the spot where they believed the 

 Virgin had once actually stood. 



Half way up the hillside, within a 

 few feet of the staircase, there rises a 

 curious structure of stone and adobe, 

 which, as we caught a glimpse of it 

 over the parapet, seemed to resemble 

 a galley under full sail. Within this 

 is supposed to be actually the mast and 

 yards of a ship, erected by a grateful 

 crew to commemorate their rescue from 

 peril at sea. The story is told that, be- 



set by a norther upon the gulf, and in 

 peril of foundering, they vowed to the 

 Lady of Guadaloupe that if she would 

 intervene to save them they would set 

 up their mast and sails at her shrine 

 in token of their gratitude. Accordingly, 

 coming to land next day, they un- 

 shipped their mast, and with the spars 

 and sails as they were, dragged it la- 

 boriously through the summer heat 

 over the hundreds of miles of mountain 

 and plain that lie between the sea coast 

 and the City of Mexico and erected it 

 upon the hillside. That it might be the 

 better preserved from the ravages of 

 the elements, they built about it a cov- 

 ering of stone. There it stands, near 

 the steps of the laborious ascent, a 

 monument to their piety. 



375 



