GUADALOUPE. 



101 



gardens present a sad but beautiful scene, with their tan- 

 gled labyrinths of myrtle, jessamine, and sweet pease, and 

 their stained and voiceless fountains ; and the view from 

 them is such as none can picture to themselves who have 

 not gazed upon it. 



I had a partiality for my early rides in the direction 

 which 1 have just been describing, both from the extreme 

 beauty of the views, and because they were the most ac- 

 cessible from the centre of the city where we had our 

 quarters. But as I desire to give you some idea of the 

 country on every side, I may mention that on several oc- 

 casions I did not fail to return upon my steps through the 

 tedious length of suburb to the north, and regaining the 

 calzada in that direction, proceed to visit the shrine and 

 rock of the patron saint of Mexico, Nuestra Senora de 

 Guadaloupe. 



There are three churches here ; that on the rock ; the 

 splendid and spacious Collegiate Church, at the foot of 

 the mountain, one of the most costly in New Spain, 

 teeming with massive silver ornaments — and the Capella 

 del Pozo, a richly decorated chapel covered by a dome, 

 built over a mineral spring. 



The more ancient church is erected upon the barren 

 rock of Tepeyayac, which forms the most southerly spur 

 of a range of high mountains, which rise, as it were, in 

 the very midst of the valley of Mexico, and may be called 

 insulated, since they are only united to the sierra on the 

 west, by an inconsiderable ridge lying between Guautit- 

 lan and Tanepantla. 



I here picked up acquaintance with a dapper little 

 priest, one of the canons of the great church, celebrated 

 among the Europeans for keeping the best pulque in the 

 whole country, a bottle of which he never failed to pro- 

 duce on receiving the compliment of a visit. Under 

 shadow of his favour, I had several opportunities of see- 

 ing the shrine and its riches at my leisure. Neustra Se- 

 nora of Guadaloupe, whose worship on this rock has suc- 

 ceeded to that of the goddess Tonantzin — the Mexican 

 Ceres — is the patron saint of the city of Mexico. The 



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