A Suquin, or Acorn Granary, Used by the Pala Indians.
The Old Altar at Pala Chapel, Before the Restoration.
In either case the effect is the same, and, whether built by accident or design, the result of mere utilitarianism or creative genius, the world of the discerning, the critical, and the lovers of the beautifully unique, the daringly original, or the simply natural, owe Padre Peyri a debt of gratitude for the Pala Campanile.
The height of the tower above the base was about 35 feet, the whole height being 50 feet. The wall of the tower was three feet thick.
A flight of steps from the rear built into the base, led up to the bells. They swung one above another, and when I first saw them were undoubtedly as their original hangers had placed them. Suspended from worm-eaten, roughly-hewn beams set into the adobe walls, with thongs of rawhide, one learned to have a keener appreciation of leather than ever before. Exposed to the weather for a century sustaining the heavy weight of the bells, these thongs still do service.
One side of the larger bell bears an inscription in Latin, very much abbreviated, as follows:
Stus Ds Stus Ftis Stus Immortlis Micerere Nobis. An. De 1816 I. R.
which being interpreted means, "Holy Lord, Holy Most Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Pity us. Year of 1816. Jesus Redemptor."