A Trip to Tucuman 277 



edifices. I have no doubt that each one of them has a 

 story to tell, which, however, is not revealed by gilded 

 Madonnas and altar furniture, which appears to be all 

 t hat is visible. I am not much interested in such things, 

 and if I wish to see them, can see them better at home in 

 the factory which is run by my Italian friend who makes 

 the reproductions of the bones of the Diplodocus for 

 me, and who, as a side issue, runs a shop in which 

 he sells virgins and apostles used to decorate the sanc- 

 tuaries of the faithful. From appearances the making 

 of plaster of Paris images must be a good business in 

 South America for the enterprising Italians who have it 

 in hand. Two days afterwards, on Sunday, I witnessed 

 a solemn religious procession, in w r hich one of these 

 gilded images of the Virgin covered by a canopy was 

 paraded through the streets borne on the shoulders of 

 men, preceded and followed by ecclesiastics and great 

 numbers of people with bared heads, while the military 

 had turned out, and bands played, and there was a 

 general sensation throughout the town. This kind of 

 mummery is characteristic to some extent of Spain, as it- 

 used also formerly to be of Italy and France. Its per- 

 petuation in South America is interesting, as showing 

 the survival of curious religious customs, which have 

 become obsolete in other parts of the world with the 

 advance of knowledge. 



Antonio's brickyard, although it was full of thistles, 

 the blossoms of which the butterflies frequent, did not 

 yield as many specimens as an adjoining alfalfa-field, 

 which was in bloom. But it did yield me a very beauti- 

 ful view of the Cordilleras, and it was these which I had 

 come to Tucuman to see. Alas ! however, during all the 

 days that I was there the obstinate clouds refused to 

 roll away from the summits, and the deep purple slopes 



