luxuries in Mexico. A similar entertainment could have been given in the United States for less than five hundred.
Some time after the visit to Guadalupe, of which the above is a sketch, I drove out again on a quiet day when there was no ceremonial, to see the establishment undisturbed and at leisure. The capellan politely offered to show us over the edifice, and point out the various objects of interest.
He took us first to the sacristy, where are found some badly painted pictures and tinsel figures; and thence to the main body of the church, which, in architectural proportion and chasteness of adornment, is the neatest I have seen in Mexico. The ornaments are all green and gold, on a white polished surface, and have just been renewed.
Candles were lighted in front of the miraculous portrait of the Virgin; the capellan knelt for a moment before it, and then drawing aside a curtain, displayed the picture itself.
the virgin of guadalupe.
The altar at the north end, and the canopy and pillars around it, are of the finest marbles. Above it, in a frame of solid gold, covered with a crystal plate, is the figure of the Virgin painted on the Indian's tilma, as represented in the preceding cut. On each side of the image, within the frame and extending its whole length, are strips of gold literally crusted with emeralds, diamonds and pearls. At the feet of the figure there are again large clusters of the same costly gems. From each side of the frame
