Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/374

366 and so think nothing too good for them to cherish them in their desert conflicts with Satan, None goes to them but carries some sweetmeats, or some other dainty dish to nourish them withal; whose prayers they solicit, leaving them great alms of Money for their Masses, and above all offering to a picture in their Church, called Our Lady of Carmel, treasures of diamonds,

pearls, golden chains and crowns, and gowns of cloth of gold and silver. Before this picture did hang in my time twenty lamps of silver; the best of them being worth a hundred pounds."

This gives us a picture of El Desierto in its flourishing period, and the remains now about us fully sustain the belief that the whole valley was indeed a beautiful garden of fountains and fruits, where the monks secluded themselves in such delightful retreats