We went first to the monastery of San Francisco, close to our hotel, the largest, and perhaps the richest convent in the country.

Entering through a great gate, we find ourselves in a large courtyard, full of people, who are visiting--one after another--the four churches which the establishment contains, going in at one door and out at the other.

At the door of the largest church, stands a tall monk, soliciting customers for the rosaries of olive-wood, crosses, and medals from Jerusalem, which are displayed on a stall close by--shouting in a stentorian voice, every two or three minutes, "He who gives alms to Holy Church, shall receive plenary indulgence, and deliver one soul from purgatory." We bought some, but there did not seem to be many other purchasers.

Indeed, we found, when we had been longer in the country, that a few pence would buy all sorts of church indulgences, from the permission to eat meat on fast-days up to plenary absolution in the hour of death; and the trade, once so flourishing here, is almost used up.

The churches were hung with black, and lighted up; and in each was a "monument," a kind of bower of green branches decorated with flowers, mirror's, and gold and silver church-plate, and supposed to stand for the Garden of Gethsemane.
Inside was reclining a wax figure of our Saviour, gaudily dressed in silk and velvet; and there were also representations of the Last Supper, with wax-work figures as large as life.