THE CONVENT. 



265 



The convent is connected with the church bj a 

 spacious corridor. It is a gigantic structure, buik 

 entirely of stone, v^ith massive w^alls, and four hun- 

 dred feet in length. The entrance is under a no- 

 ble portico, v^ith high stone pillars, from which as- 

 cends a broad stone staircase to a spacious cor- 

 ridor twenty feet wide. This corridor runs through 

 the whole length of the building, with a stone pave- 

 ment, and is hghted in two places by a dome. On 

 each side are cloisters, once occupied by a numerous 

 body of Franciscan friars. The first two and prin- 

 cipal of these cloisters on the left are occupied by 

 the cura, and were our home. Another is occupied 

 by one of his ministros, and in the fourth was an old 

 Indian making cigars. The rest on this side are 

 unoccupied, and on the right, facing the great gar- 

 den of the convent, all the cloisters are untenanted, 

 dismantled, and desolate ; the doors and windows 

 are broken, and grass and weeds are growing out of 

 the floors. The garden had once been in harmony 

 with the grandeur and style of the convent, and now 

 shares its fortunes. Its wells and fountains, parterres 

 and beds of flowers, are all there, but neglected and 

 running to waste, weeds, oranges, and lemons grow- 

 ing wildly together, and our horses were turned into 

 it loose, as into a pasture. 



Associated in my mind with this ruined convent, 

 so as almost to form part of the building, is our host, 

 the pride and love of the village, the cura Carillo. 

 He was past forty, tall and thin, with an open, ani- 



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