their subsistence depends upon the contributions of their parishioners; which, in general, are regulated by custom, and not by law: they consist of marriage and baptismal fees and other dues payable on burials, masses, and other church ceremonies, most of which are very exorbitant, and produce a most demoralizing effect amongst the Indian population. For instance, in States, where the daily wages of the labourer do not exceed two reals, and where a cottage can be built for four dollars, its unfortunate inhabitants are forced to pay twenty two dollars for their marriage fees; a sum which exceeds half their yearly earnings, in a country where Feast and Fast days reduce the number of dias utiles (on which labour is permitted) to about one hundred and seventy-five. The consequence is, that the Indian either cohabits with his future wife until she becomes pregnant, (when the priest is compelled to marry them with, or without fees,) or, if more religiously disposed, contracts debts, and even commits thefts, rather than not satisfy the demands of the ministers of that Religion, the spirit of which appears to be so little understood.
Throughout the Bishopric of Valladolid the marriage fees vary from seventeen, to twenty-two dollars: in La Puebla, Durango, and Mexico, they are from fourteen to eighteen dollars, according to the supposed means of the parties; and these enormous sums are extorted from the meanest parishioners.
The fees on baptisms, and burials, are likewise
