386 



CARTA GO. 



On my return home, I found Lieutenant Or- 

 tegas waiting to take leave of me : he had his 

 guide and horses with him, in order to pro- 

 ceed to Caly and Buenaventura. We regretted 

 parting ; and I gave him my address in Eng- 

 land, to visit which he expressed great desire. 

 In the evening young Malarino came in ; and 

 the conversation turning on religion, Don Luis 

 appeared to be very bigotted to his, and to 

 have no idea of reasoning. " How," said he, 

 " can I suppose my creed to be wrong, when 

 so many saints and holy doctors have written, 

 confirming it ?" — Oh !" called out Malarino, 



that is very bad reasoning, for every religion 

 has its learned doctors who write in support 

 of it ; and, though there are so many reli- 

 gions in the world, yet, according to your ar- 

 gument, each must be right." — There is just 

 now a light breaking in upon the young men, 

 who see the many errors of their religion, and 

 do not yet know how to form their opinions. 

 For a time, I think, by what I can observe, 

 that Deism will be the religion most generally 

 adopted, until the Protestant creed is intro- 

 duced, which, I have no doubt, will have many 

 partisans in the country. 



