feet of glorious Chimborazo and Pichincha we see a nation bowing
down to little images of the rudest sculpture with a devotion that
reminds us of the Middle Ages.

[Footnote 32: Asking the late Chilian minister for his view of the rank
of the different South American states, he gave us this order: Chile,
Brazil, Argentine Republic, Venezuela, New Granada, Central America,
Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador.]

[Illustration: Ecclesiastics.]

The belief is called _La Fe_, or the only true one. The oath of a
Protestant is not regarded in courts of law. One fourth of Quito is
covered by convents and churches. The convents alone number fifty-seven,
and are very extensive, sometimes spreading over eight or nine acres.
The Church revenue amounts to $800,000. There are more than four hundred
priests, monks, and nuns in the capital. The native ecclesiastics are
notorious for their ignorance and immorality. "It is a very common thing
(says Dr. Terry) for a curate to have a whole flock of orphan nephews
and nieces, the children of an imaginary brother." There is one
ex-president who has the reputation of tying a spur on the leg of a
game-cock better even than a curate. The imported Jesuits are the most
intelligent and influential clergy. They control the universities and
colleges, and education generally. Active and intellectual, though not
learned, they have infused new life into the fat indolence of the
Spanish system. Men of this world rather than the next, they have
adopted a purely mundane policy, abjured the gloomy cowl, raised
gorgeous temples, and say, "He that cometh unto us shall in no wise lose
heaven." Their chief merit, however, is the discovery of the turkey and
quinine.

The Protestant in Quito is annoyed by an everlasting jingling of bells
and blowing of bugles night and day. The latter are blown every third
hour. The bells are struck by boys, not rung. A bishop, returning from a
visit to London, was asked if there were any good bells in England.
"Very fine," he replied, "but there is not a man there who knows how to
ring them." Foreign machinery is sprinkled with holy water to neutralize
the inherent heresy; but a miller, for example, will charge more for his
flour after the baptism.

Lotteries are countenanced by both Church and State, and in turn help
support them; we saw one "grand scheme" carried out on the cathedral
terrace and defended by bayonets.

At half past nine in the morning all Quito is on its kne