46 PARA, Cuap. III. 
crowd of attendants precede the images, arrayed in embroidered robes, 
and protected by magnificent sunshades—no useless ornament here, for 
the heat is very great when the sun is not obscured. On each side of 
the long line the citizens walk, clad in crimson silk cloaks, and holding 
each a large lighted wax candle. Behind follows a regiment or two of 
foot soldiers with their bands of music, and last of all the crowd, the 
coloured people being cleanly dressed and preserving a grave demeanour. 
The women are always in great force, their luxuriant black hair 
decorated with jasmines, white orchids, and other tropical flowers. 
They are dressed in their usual holiday attire, gauze chemises and 
black silk petticoats ; their necks are adorned with links of gold beads, 
which, when they are slaves, are generally the property of their 
mistresses, who love thus to display their wealth. 
At night, when festivals are going on in the grassy squares around 
the suburban churches, there is really much to admire. A great deal 
that is peculiar in the land and the life of its inhabitants can be seen 
best at those times. The cheerful white church is brilliantly lighted 
up, and the music, not of a very solemn description, peals forth from 
the open windows and doors. Numbers of young gaudily-dressed 
negresses line the path to the church doors with stands of liqueurs, 
sweetmeats, and cigarettes, which they sell to the outsiders. A short 
distance off is heard the rattle of dice-boxes and roulette at the open-air 
gambling stalls. When the festival happens on moon-lit nights, the 
whole scene is very striking to a new-comer. Around the square are 
groups of tall palm trees; and beyond it, over the illuminated houses, 
appear the thick groves of mangoes near the suburban avenues, from 
which comes the perpetual ringing din of insect life. The soft tropical 
moonlight lends a wonderful charm to the whole. The inhabitants are 
all out, dressed in their best. The upper classes, who come to enjoy 
the fine evening and the general cheerfulness, are seated on chairs 
around the doors of friendly houses. There is no boisterous conviviality, 
but a quiet enjoyment seems to be felt everywhere, and a gentle 
courtesy rules amongst all classes andcolours. I have seena splendidly- 
dressed colonel, from the President’s palace, walk up to a mulatto, and 
politely ask his permission to take a light from his cigar. When the 
service is over, the church bells are set ringing, a shower of rockets 
mounts upwards, the band strikes up, and parties of coloured people 
in the booths begin their dances. About ten o’clock the Brazilian 
national air is played, and all disperse quietly and soberly to their 
homes. 
At the festival of Corpus Christi there was a very pretty arrangement. 
The large green square of the Trinidade was lighted up all round with 
bonfires. On one side a fine pavilion was erected, the upright posts 
consisting of real fan-leaved palm trees, the Mauritia flexuosa, which had 
been brought from the forest, stems and heads entire, and fixed in the 
ground. ‘The booth was illuminated with coloured lamps, and lined 
with red and white cloth, In it were seated the ladies, not all of pure 
Caucasian blood, but presenting a fine sample of Para beauty and 
fashion. 
The grandest of all these festivals is that held in honour of Our Lady 
"7 
