OF THE PAMPAS. 



priests had everywhere very great influence; and 

 the dimensions of the churches at Buenos Aires, 

 Lucan, Mendoza, &C.5 show the power and riches 

 they possessed, and the greedy ambition which 

 governed them. It is a sad picture to see a num- 

 ber of small, wretched-looking huts surrounding a 

 church whose haughty elevation is altogether inap- 

 plicable to the humility of the Christian religion ; 

 and one cannot help comparing it with the quiet vil- 

 lage church of England, whose exterior and inte- 

 rior tends rather to humble the feelings of the arro- 

 gant and proud, while to the peasant it has the 

 cheerful appearance of his own home. When it 

 is considered that the churches in South America 

 were principally built for the conversion of the 

 Indians to the Christian faith, it is melancholy to 

 think that the priests should have attempted, by the 

 pomp of their tempJes, and by the mummery of 

 candles, and pictures, and images, to have done 

 what by reason, and kindness, and humility, would 

 surely have been better performed. But their secret 

 object was to extort money ; and as it is always 

 easier to attract a crowd of people by bad passions 

 than by good, they therefore made their temples as 



