Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-06-11

tree, are all that it contains. | have
rarely in my life seen a more gloomy
and desolate looking place. It's much
more like prison than garden. A
decrepit, palsied old man, said to be
more than a hundred years old, is the
superintendent of the establishment !;
no one could have been selected more
IN keeping with the general dilapida-
tlon and dreariness of this melancholy
affair.
But the cathedral, which occupies
the great idol temple Of Mantezuma,
offers striking contrast. 1t is FIVE
hundred feet long, by four hundred and
twenty wide. Like all other churches
in Mexico, it is built in the Gothic
style. The walls, of several feet thick
ness, are made of unhewn stone and
lime. Upon entering it, one is apt to
recall the wild 6ctions of the Arabian
Nights; it seems as if the wealth of
empires was collected there. The cler-
gy in Mexico do not, for obvious rea-
sons, desire that their wealth should be
made known to its full extent; they
are, therefore, not disposed to give full
information upon the subject, or to ex-
hlbit the gold and silver vessels, vases,
precious stones, and other forms of
wealth; qnite enough is exhibited to
strike the beholder with wonder. The
first object that presents itself on enter
| ing the cathedral is the alter, near the
centre of the building; It is made of
highly wrought and highly polished
silver, and covered with profusion
of ornaments of pure gold. On
each side Of this altar runs balus-
trade, enclosing space about eight
feet wide and eighty or hundred feet
long. The balusters are about four
! feet high, and four inches thick in the
largest part; the handrail from six 10
eight inches wide. Upon the top of
this handrail, at the distance of SIX or
eight feet apart, are human images,
beautifully wrought, and about two
feet high. All of these, the balustrade,
handrail, and images, are made of a
compound of gold, silver and copper
more valuable than silver. / was told
that an offer had been made to take
this balustrade, and replace It with an
other of exactly the same size and work
manship pure silver, and to give him
a half million Of dollars besides
There is much more of the same balus-
trade in other parts of the church; l
should think, in all oft, not less than
three hundred feet. d..
AS you walk through the building,
on either side, there are different apart
ments, all filled, from the floor to the
ceiling, with paintings, statues, vases,
huge candlesticks, walters, and thou
sand other articles, made of gold or
silver. This, too, is only the every
day display of articles ofleast value;lhe
more costly are stored away in chests
and closets. What must it be when
all these are brought out, with the i'm
mense quantities of precious stones
which the church is known to possess'
And this is only one of the churches of
the city of Mexico, where there are be-
tween sixty and eighty others, ands some
of them possessing little less wealth
than the cathedral; and it must also be
remembered, that all the other large
cities, such as Puebla, Guadalaiara,
Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Durango, San
Louis Potosi, have each proportion
ate number of equally gorgeous estab-
lishments. = Gen. Wompson's Recol-
lections.