RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 9 



cells of the monks. The walls are decorated 

 with paintings of the patron saint, repre- 

 senting his birth, miracles, sufferings, and 

 death. There are nine monasteries for 

 men, and three convents for women, the 

 others having fallen into decay in conse- 

 quence of the revolution, and the increase 

 of knowledge and penetration of the na- 

 tives, who are fast throwing off the yoke of 

 bigotry and priestcraft, and assuming the 

 right of man to think and act for himself. A 

 considerable number of these slugs are, how- 

 ever, still left to fatten on the plunder which 

 they extract from the credulity of the popu- 

 lace, though it is to be hoped that the march 

 of human intellect in the transatlantic 

 world will not be long retarded by such 

 drones, but that a short time will bring 

 their total dispersion. There is a hospital 

 dependent on San Juan de Dios, but it is 

 rather a speculation for profit, than an asy- 

 lum for the sick and suffering;' all their 



