118 BIOGRAPHY AND
languishes on every side. The country is not yet sufficiently settled to induce the enterprise of the capitalist. Since the revolution, the working classes have suffered severely from the depression of business. Wages are, of course, very low; upon an average, not more than twenty cents for a day's work, for a laborer, which is commonly made to consist of about sixteen hours.
Many of the customs, laws and institutions are very singular. Priests are seen in great numbers on every side. I meet them on every street. From the peculiarity of their dress, there is no mistaking their profession. Those of the superior order are clothed in black, and their heads display the accompaniment of a three-cornered hat. Those of another class present a shorn crown to the evening breeze and the noonday sun; and the meanness of their garments are intended to represent their vows of austere indigence. A coarse woollen dress is attached to the body by a rope loosely tied around the waist, from which hang their rosary beads and a small crucifix. Their feet are shod with a species of sandals. They are generally seen two together, and are very unlike the wealthy ecclesiastics, who mingle freely with the best society.
The other day, as I was returning from a walk, I fell into the following reflections: I am alone and a stranger in this great city—eight thousand miles from my beloved family, surrounded by a people with whose manners and peculiarities I am unacquainted. I have come to enlighten their minds and instruct them in principles of righteousness; but I see no possible means of accomplishing this object. All is darkness in the prospect.
While I thus walked gloomily along the thronged streets, I was suddenly awakened from my reverie by a glance of recognition from a gentleman passing, and was not a little pleased to find him an Englishman, with whom I had previously formed a slight acquaintance. He accosted me in a
