CH..IV. SOUTH AMERICA. 259 



sons of eminence, never fail to assist. Bat the singu- 

 lar pomp of the procession of the ho?,t in the former, 

 and the dances of the Indians, must not be omitted. 

 Every house of the streets through w^iich it passes 

 are ad )rned v/ith rich hangings; and superb tri- 

 umphal arches are erecred, with altars at stated di- 

 stances, and higher than the houses, on which, as on 

 the triumphal arches, the spectator sees, with admi- 

 ration,^ immense quantities of wrought plate, and 

 jewels, disposed in such an elegant manner as to ren- 

 der the whole even more pieasing than the astonish- 

 ing quantity of riches. Tiiis splendor, togetiier with 

 the magnificent dresses of the persons who assist at 

 the procession, render the whole extremely solemn, 

 and the pomp and decorum are both continued to 

 the end of the ceremony. 



With regard to the dances, it is a custom, both 

 among the parishes of Quito and all those of the 

 mountains, for the priest, a month before the celebra- 

 tion of the feasts, to select a number ot Indians who 

 are to be the dancers. These immediately begin to 

 prac dse the dances they used before their conversion 

 to Christianity. Tde music is a pipe and tabor, and 

 the most extraordinary of their motions some awk- 

 ward capers ; in short, the whole is lita!: to the taste 

 of an European. V/ithin a few days of the solem- 

 nity, they dress themselves in a doublet, a shirt, and 

 a woman's petticoat, adorned in the finest manner 

 possible. Over their stockings they wear a kind of 

 pinked buskins, on which are fastened a great num- 

 ber of bells. Their head and face they cover with a 

 kind of m.ask, formed of ribbands of several colours. 

 Dressed in this fantastical garb, they proudly call 

 themselves angels, unite in companies of eight or 

 ten, and spend the whole day in roving about the 

 streets, highly delighted with the jingling of their 

 ■bells J and frequently stop and dance, to gain the ap- 

 plauses of the ignorant multitude, who are strangers 



S 2 to 



