74 



INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL. 



hundred and fifty feet deep, and the walls were ten feet 

 thick. The fa9ade was adorned with ornaments and 

 figures of the saints, larger than life. The roof had 

 fallen, and inside were huge masses of stone and mor- 

 tar, and a thick growth of trees. It was built by the 

 Spaniards on the site of the old Indian village ; but, 

 having been twice shattered by earthquakes, the inhab- 

 itants had deserted it, and built the town where it now 

 stands. The ruined village was now occupied as a 

 campo santo, or burial-place ; inside the church were 

 the graves of the principal inhabitants, and in the niches 

 of the wall were the bones of priests and monks, with 

 their names written under them. Outside were the 

 graves of the common people, untended and uncared 

 for, with the barrow of laced sticks which had carried 

 the body to the grave laid upon the top, and slightly 

 covered with earth. The bodies had decayed, the dirt 

 fallen in, and the graves were yawning. Around this 

 scene of desolation and death nature was rioting in 

 beauty ; the ground was covered with flowers, and par- 

 rots on every bush and tree, and flying in flocks over 

 our heads, wanton in gayety of colours, with senseless 

 chattering disturbed the stillness of the grave. 



We returned to the town, and found about twelve 

 hundred soldiers drawn up in the plaza for evening 

 parade. Their aspect was ferocious and banditti-like, 

 and it was refreshing to see convicts peeping through 

 the gratings of the prison, and walking in chains on 

 the plaza, as it gave an idea that sometimes crimes 

 were punished. With all their ferocity of appearance, 

 the officers, mounted on prancing mules or very small 

 horses, almost hidden in saddle-cloth and armour, wore 

 an air bordering upon the mock heroic. While we 

 were looking at them, General Cascara, the command- 



