young men, I note, are less respectful. At first I thought it was a politeness meant for me also, and returned the obeisance; but I soon found it was for the higher being by whose side I rode.
We cross a bridge and drive through the calzada—a finely shaded avenue, with drives either side, and a walk and benches in the middle. Along the benches loungers are sitting, and market-women are selling lettuce, which is the chief esculent, seemingly, here. It grows very large, and the outer leaves are torn off and thrown away. The inside ones are pressed together, and the tall, compact bunch of delicate white and green looks good enough to eat, and is as good as it looks. They sometimes put tulips and roses and other flowers in the top of these bunches, and thereby increase their attraction to the eye, but not to the palate.
A Sister of Charity here, as everywhere else, hideously dressed, has a bevy of school-girls on the calzada for recreation. The Roman Church has not lost all its wits yet. These fine-looking young ladies will cling to the nun and priest, and the young men will cling to them. Only a great outpouring of the Holy Ghost can open the eyes of this land by taking the veil from off their hearts.
The hot streets are run through in our usual Gilpin style, and we are reined up sharp at the door of the Hotel Diligencias.
I bid adios to my friend, the priest of the order of Paul, and go out to conquer the town. It is soon done. He told me the truth. Only the cathedral, the front of the theatre, and some haciendas. The last it is too hot to visit; the first is looked into, the second looked upon. I am in for a day here. There is no return stage till to-morrow at eleven. So I wander through the market-place, a dull spot, and soon exhausted; where brass coin is all their currency. Guanajuato touches nothing but silver. The plaza holds me longer. It has a very rich tropical garden, banana-trees, orange, and flowers of every hue. It has also around it broad shaded arcades lined with shops and stores. Nowhere have I seen so much of a display of dry goods. A whole side of the square is lined with these stores, and very fair in their attractions they are.
The cathedral is after the usual sort, and not especially ornate.
