Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/607

Rh registers thrown carelessly into a corner of the chapel, I saw one of the year 1682. The sexton who displays them is a curiosity of the Border, and will, for a small fee, eagerly conduct visitors through the little church.

I secured, and herewith present, a picture of the interior of that lonely church on the Mexican Border, which was far more interesting to me than that of the great cathedral in Mexico City, since its ornaments and paraphernalia are reduced to the simplest requirements for confessional and pulpit service, and the requisite decoration of Virgin and altar-piece. Add in imagination a group of kneeling figures before the altar rail, and you have all the characteristic features of a church interior throughout Mexico. Farther into the republic, the houses of worship are more lavishly adorned, but here, doubtless, the clergy feared to make the usual display of gilded carving and paste ornaments, lest the cupidity of the Border ruffian should excite him to lay sacrilegious hands thereon. A grateful coolness, even in the hottest weather, always pervades these churches, owing to the thickness of their walls, whether of stone or adobe. Great beams, ornately carved in lilies and roses, support the tiled roof of this particular structure, which is not so high as some sanctuaries I have seen in Indian pueblos.

The population of this town, of about five thousand inhabitants, differs in no particular from that of the southern settlements of the Border, but the place itself is more attractive. In front of the church is a barren plazuela, which lies at the head of a valley that follows the river on its course for many a mile, and here is held the market, which is well worth inspection.

Irrigation brings fertility to fruitful gardens, and vineyards which produce excellent grapes, and raisins which are eaten stewed like plums. El Paso wine is in great demand, as it has a strong body and has the flavor of Malaga, when mellowed by age. The grape is large, blue, rich, and juicy, though a white variety is raised with the taste of Muscadine. A population of above fifteen thousand supports itself upon the products of the valley, and the wheat, pears, peaches, onions, and apples of the cooler portions of the mountain range.