98 



feet of the capuchins completed the building of 

 this church in less than two summers, though 

 he employed only the Indians of his village. 

 The mouldings of the capital, the cornices, and 

 a frize decorated with suns and arabesques, are 

 executed in clay mixed with pounded brick. If 

 we be surprised to find churches in the purest 

 Grecian style on the confines of Lapland we 

 are still more struck with these first essays of 

 art under a zone, where every thing indicates 

 the savage state of man, and where the basis of 

 civilization has not been laid by the Europeans 

 more than forty years. The governor of the 

 province disapproved the luxury of these con- 

 structions in the Missions, and, to the great re- 

 gret of the friars, the finishing of the temple 

 has been suspended. The Indians of San An- 

 tonio are far from sharing these regrets : they 

 secretly approve the decision of the governor, 

 which suits their natural indolence ; they care 

 no more for ornaments of architecture, than the 

 natives formerly did in the Missions of the Je- 

 suits of Paraguay. 



I stopped at the Mission of San Antonio only 

 to open the barometer, and take a few altitudes 

 of the sun. The elevation of the great square 

 above Cumana is 216 toises. After having 

 crossed the village, we forded the rivers Colora- 



* At Skelefter, near Torneo. Buch, Voyage en Nor- 

 wege, T. ii, p. 275. 



