272 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



above the level of the Pacific. The church stands in a 

 noble court vv^ith several gates, and before it is a gi- 

 gantic v^rhite cross. We rode up to the convent, which 

 is under the charge of the cura of San Juan Obispo, 

 but it v^as unoccupied, and there wsls no one to receive 

 us except a little talkative old man, who had only ar- 

 rived that morning. Very soon there was an irruption 

 of Indians, vrith the alcalde and his alguazils, w^ho 

 came to offer their services as guides up the mountain. 

 They v^ere the first Indians I had met vs^ho did not speak 

 Spanish, and their eagerness and clamour reminded me 

 of my old friends the Arabs. They represented the 

 ascent as very steep, v^ith dangerous precipices, and the 

 path extremely difficult to find, and said it was neces- 

 sary for each of us to have sixteen men with ropes to 

 haul us up, and to pay twelve dollars for each man. 

 They seemed a little astonished when I told them that 

 we wanted two men each, and would give them half a 

 dollar apiece, but fell immediately to eight men for 

 each, and a dollar apiece ; and, after a noisy wran- 

 gling, we picked out six from forty, and they all retired. 

 In a few minutes we heard a violin out of doors, which 

 we thought was in honour of us ; but it was for the little 

 old man, who was a titritero or puppet-player, and in- 

 tended giving an exhibition that night. The music 

 entered the room, and a man stationed himself at the 

 door to admit visiters. The price of admission was 

 three cents, and there were frequent wranglings to have 

 one cent taken off, or two admitted for three cents. 

 The high price preventing the entrance of common 

 people, the company was very select, and all sat on 

 the floor. The receipts, as I learned from the door- 

 keeper, were upward of five shillings. Romaldi, who 

 was a skilful amateur, led the orchestra, that is, the 



