Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/664

644 around. I am not acquainted with the circumstances that first gave celebrity to the image of our Lady, in honour of which the church was built; but it is supposed still to possess the power of working miracles, and medals, invaluable to all who believe in their efficacy, are sold at the door of the church for a mere trifle.

The town lies in a deep ravine, almost upon a level with the river of the same name: the inn is built of stone; it is very spacious, and during the fair, proves a most valuable possession, each room being let for ten dollars a-day. I was sorry not to have been able to visit San Juan during this period, for the scene is said to be exceedingly curious. Thousands of horses and mules assemble upon the hills around, and every room in almost every house is full of merchandise of foreign or domestic manufacture, from which the merchants of the North make their selections, and lay in their supplies for the year. Diversions of all kinds are intermixed with the business of the day. Cock-fighting, Monte, and balls, occupy the leisure hours; and as the fair is a rendezvous for all the proprietors of Haciendas within a hundred leagues of the place, with their families, there is perhaps no spot in the Federation where the national manners may be seen in such purity. The fair is now declining in importance, for so many channels have been opened of late for the importation of foreign goods, that they are becoming accessible to all classes of the inhabitants