WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 445 



before they are commissioned, they have to be examined and cer- 

 tificated by the Professor of the language. 



1276. The Professors are in major part natives of the Indies and 

 especially of this city, where it would appear that the skies, as usually 

 in the Indies, train outstanding and unusual intellects in subtlety and 

 facility, so that in general they are very able and keen witted ; this 

 is obvious from the professorial positions which they occupy and the 

 pulpits, where remarkable men distinguish themselves in their mastery 

 of science and oratory ; but they are unfortunate in living far from 

 the eyes of His Majesty. For after all their labors, since there are 

 so few professorial chairs and so many candidates, and there cannot 

 be many lawyers, after having drudged and done brilliantly, and 

 having spent in attaining the degrees of Licentiate and Doctor, 3,500 

 pesos, they lose heart, unless they have private means, at seeing them- 

 selves unrewarded ; so the clerics take benefices and Indian curacies 

 in order to live, and many abandon their books and studies, and never 

 take their degrees. 



1277. This University's faculty is important, for it comprises 

 more than 80 Doctors and Masters ; the members of the Circuit Court 

 join them, for at the end of the year the fees amount to many ducats. 

 The lecture halls in the schools are excellent, and the chapel very 

 fine, but the most remarkable feature is the amphitheater, where they 

 hold the public functions and commencements ; it is very large and 

 imposing ; the display at the granting of whatever degrees are given, 

 is also imposing. They invite the city's nobility as an escort, and 

 meet at the house of the Doctor-to-be in a blare of trumpets, flageolets, 

 and bugles, with a banner which hangs from a window of the house 

 over a canopy on crimson velvet cushions and has the arms of the 

 University and of the graduating Doctor ; these are likewise set up 

 in the theater erected in the Cathedral under the royal arms ; they 

 remind and notify the invited guests and doctors, who form an escort 

 the evening before ; the nobility follow the banner, then the Beadles 

 with their silver maces, then the Masters and Doctors with their 

 insignia, in order of age, closing with the Dean of the faculty and 

 the graduating Doctor ; and in this order they repair to the Rector's 

 house, where the members of the Circuit Court await them ; with 

 the Rector in their center, they continue in the procession, in order 

 of age. And in this same order the following day they parade till 

 they arrive at the Cathedral, where the theater and the stage have 

 been decorated and provided with seats ; Mass is said for them, and 

 at its close after leaving the Cathedral, the newest Doctor of the 



