“_The Child God._” p. 147.
The representation of the Deity in the form of a child is very common
in Spain. The number of little figures, about a foot high, called
Niño Dios, or Niño Jesus, is nearly equal to that of nuns in most
convents. The nuns dress them in all the variety of the national
costumes, such as clergymen, canons in their choral robes, doctors
of divinity in their hoods, physicians in their wigs and gold-headed
canes, &c. &c. The Niño Jesus is often found in private houses; and
in some parts of Spain, where contraband trade is the main occupation
of the people, is seen in the dress of a smuggler with a brace of
pistols at his girdle, and a blunderbuss leaning on his arm.