Crusoe's island . al life. At all events, we jogged along very so-ciably, and in something over an hour reached the mis-sion. A more desolate place than Soledad can not well beimagined. The old church is partially in ruins, and theadobe huts built for the Indians are roofless, and thewalls tumbled about in shapeless piles. Not a tree orshrub is to be seen any where in the vicinity. Theground is bare, like an open road, save in front of themain building (formerly occupied by the priests), wherethe carcasses and bones of cattle are scattered about,presenting a disgusting spectacle. But this is a
Crusoe's island . al life. At all events, we jogged along very so-ciably, and in something over an hour reached the mis-sion. A more desolate place than Soledad can not well beimagined. The old church is partially in ruins, and theadobe huts built for the Indians are roofless, and thewalls tumbled about in shapeless piles. Not a tree orshrub is to be seen any where in the vicinity. Theground is bare, like an open road, save in front of themain building (formerly occupied by the priests), wherethe carcasses and bones of cattle are scattered about,presenting a disgusting spectacle. But this is a commonsight on the Spanish ranches. Too lazy to carry themeat very far, the rancheros generally do their butcher-ing in front of the door, and leave the Indians and buz-zards to dispose of the offal. A young Spaniard, one of the proprietors, was theonly person at home, with the exception of a few dirtyIndians who were lying about the door. He receivedme rather coldly, as I thought, and took no concern H2 9 iSgJUi. A DANGEROUS JOURNEY. 179 whatever about my mule. I learned afterward that thisfamily had been greatly imposed upon by travelers pass-ing northward to the mines, who killed their cattle, stoletheir corn, stopped of nights and wA away withoutpaying any thing. At first they freely entertained allwho came along in the genuine style of Spanish hospital-ity ; but, not content with the kind treatment bestowedupon them, their rough guests seldom left the premiseswithout carrying away whatever they could lay handsupon. This naturally embittered them against strangers,and of course I had to bear my share of the ill feelingmanifested toward the traveling public. It was notlong, however, before I discovered a key to my young-hosts good graces. He was strumming on an old gui-tar when I arrived, and soon resumed his solitaiy amuse-ment, not seeming disposed to respond to my feeble at-tempts at his native language, but rather enjoying theidea of drawing himself into the doleful sph
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectminesandmineralresources
