. All the keys, even that of the treasury, were politely laid
out in the chamber of the superior. This was a cruel mockery! The
Jesuits could not have taken a more ample revenge on the treachery that
had been practised on them.

It was suspected that the treasures were concealed partly in the convent
of San Pedro, and partly in the plantations. According to the evidence
of an old negro, at that time in the service of the convent, he,
together with some of his comrades, was employed during several nights
in carrying heavy bags of money into the vaults of the convent. Their
eyes were bandaged, and they were conducted by two of the brethren, who
helped them to raise and set down the bags. The negro, moreover,
declared his conviction that there was a subterraneous spring near the
spot where the treasure was deposited. The searches hitherto made have
been very superficial, and it seems not impossible that by dint of more
active exertions this concealed wealth may yet be brought to light.

At present San Pedro is occupied by about a dozen lay priests. They
perform the spiritual service of the _Oratorio de San Felipe Neri_. They
live on the revenues derived from the rents of the few plantations which
have not been confiscated or sold. The chapel is prettily fitted up in
the interior, and the midnight mass at Christmas is performed there with
great solemnity. The external walls of both the chapel and the convent
are painted a reddish-brown color, which has a very sombre and ugly
effect.

The convents of _Nuestra Senora de la Marced_ and _San Agustin_ are
situated at the back of San Pedro. The former is spacious, but not
largely endowed; the latter is a poor-looking edifice, but it possesses
rich revenues. To San Agustin is attached the once eminent but now very
inferior college of San Ildefonso.

Besides the monastic establishments above named, Lima contains
several smaller convents for friars, and sixteen nunneries. Of the
latter the largest is the Monasterio de la Concepcion. It is very
rich, and has an annual revenue of upwards of 100,000 dollars; in
other respects it is remarkable for nothing except the not very pious
habits of its inmates. _Santa Clara_ and the _Encarnacion_ are also
large establishments, and well endowed. The nuns who observe the most
rigorous conventual rules are the _Capuchinas de Jesus Maria_, the
_Nazarenas_ and the _Trinitarias descalzas_. For extremely pious
women, who wish to lead a cloistered