und down and destroyed every spark of
intelligence, of liberty, of attempt at progress; it dominated the whole
nation like the shadow of the upas tree, manufactured hypocrites, and
led to the debasing of a naturally fine people of good instincts to an
ignorant and fanatical mob, who, in the name of religion, were
entertained with gigantic _autos-da-fe_, as the Roman populace were with
the terrible spectacles of their gladiatorial shows and the immolation
of Christian victims in the arena.

It was the people themselves who rose against this hateful tyranny; it
was their better instincts that put an end to the "Holy Office" and its
enormous crimes. Shortly after the Revolution of 1868, when religious
liberty had been established, and the people, for the first time in
their long history of disaster, were breathing the air of freedom,
certain improvements which were being made, in the shape of laying out
new streets, pulling down old rookeries, and building better houses, led
to a new road being cut through the raised ground outside the Santa
Barbara Gate. The exact spot of the great _Quemadero_--the oven of the
Inquisition--was not known, but it chanced that the workmen cut right
through the very centre of it. A more ghastly sight, or an object-lesson
of more potency, could scarcely be imagined. The Government of the day
found it advisable to cover it up as quickly as possible; the excitement
of the people was thought to be dangerous; and though those at the head
of affairs were no friends to the priests or the Jesuits, there was no
desire to reawaken the passions and let loose the vengeance which led
the populace in 1834 to murder them wholesale.

I happened to be returning from a ride with a companion when, quite
accidentally, we came upon this excavation, and even passed down the new
road before we realised where we were. The _Quemadero_ had evidently
been in the shape of an immense basin. There in the banks at each side
were the stratified layers of human ashes; between each _auto-da-fe_ it
was evident that the remains had been covered with a thick layer of
earth; finally, at the top of all these smaller bands of black, horrible
ashes, came one huge deposit, which marked the awful scene of the last
gigantic _auto_. This ghastly bonfire was sixty feet square, and seven
feet high, as history records, when one hundred and five victims were
slowly tortured to a frightful death in the name of Christ, while the
King, Charle