164 THE CHURCH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 



longer part. In this they were assisted hy a choir of male voices, all cultivated artists ; and 

 the music, though appropriately solemn, was effective and pleasant. The mass and dirge occu- 

 pied two hours. At their conclusion a eulogistic discourse on the deceased was pronounced, the 

 mind of the orator being so excessively florid that his auditors had many occasions to suspect his 

 memory equally oblivious. The services concluded with a discordant and disagreeable chant 

 by the priests, a dozen who had come as guests aiding the officials. There were only invited 

 guests present. These, to the number of a hundred perhaps, embraced many of the first men in 

 Santiago ; and though the doorway was crowded with the straw-hat gentry, they were considerate 

 enough to keep their odors beyond the influence of the incense burned around the altar. A dark- 

 ened edifice, with funereal drapings lighted only by tapers and the pale-blue unearthly flames 

 of the vases, with the solemn melody of the priests and singers, as beneath this spectral gleam 

 they passed from side to side or knelt in obedience to the rubric, were well calculated to render 

 the ceremonies and scene imposing. I could not but think the object and its results far more 

 likely to awaken virtuous energies, to arouse philanthropic spirit, and to draw man nearer to his 

 Creator, than many of the incomprehensible pageants so often witnessed. 



Most of those whose attendance at the obsequies had been solicited were fellow-laborers with 



D on in his works of philanthropy, and were known to be willing promoters of every 



object having in view the advancement of their country. Believing, perhaps, that whilst their 

 feelings were under the influence of the eulogy, and themselves more earnestly desirous to merit 

 like commendation from successors, a new object of public utility could be brought forward with 

 greater probability of success, a second note, accompanying the invitation, solicited our attend- 

 ance, on conclusion of the exequies, at the normal school of agriculture; the object being to 

 form a society to encourage agriculture and horticulture in Chile. The enthusiastic and ener- 

 getic director of the normal school had provided a superb dejeuner a la fourchette, embracing 

 every imaginable luxury from the pate defoie gras and preserved becassines of France to the less 

 palatable but more substantial cazuela of the country, with fish, fowls, hams, pastry, and fruits, 

 to be washed down with wines in variety ad libitum. Ample justice was done to the comestibles 

 set out, and ample gratification afterwards experienced by those who for the first time exam- 

 ined the extensive preparations to educate a corps of agriculturists scientifically, not less than 

 by others who marked the rapid progress a few months had enabled the enterprising chief 

 to make. And thus, when he came to sketch out a plan for the society, his propositions were 

 adopted nem. con. : everybody wrote his name ; and in this manner has commenced the first 

 botanical organization of the republic. 



PALM SUNDAY. There are processions in the morning by the friars of each order. As I passed 

 down the street for my morning's walk, those of La Merced, with long wands of the cocoa palm 

 in their hands, followed by the crowd which had been packed within the church, and a larger 

 concourse from the street, were just coming out of the north door. Their cowls and loose- 

 flowing robes are not ungraceful, and the color is a decided recommendation. Those of the 

 provincial and priests were covered with richly embroidered garments, in shape and ornaments 

 strongly resembling the pictures one sees of Chinese mandarins. The whole body, priests and 

 laity, chanted as they moved bareheaded to the western door ; and there a ceremony was per- 

 formed which the crowd prevented me from seeing. A cloud of incense ascending above the sea 

 of heads was all that could be discerned, until I followed them inside to the high mass. 



Near the door was a table jointly occupied by a priest and a layman, engaged in the sale of 

 indulgences and pardons ; whilst a juvenile member of the fraternity perambulated the body of 

 the church, with a plate to receive oblations in one hand, a string of amulets for sale to the 

 peons over one arm, and a piece of the white material of which their dress is made for the 

 faithful to kiss in the unemployed hand. The white cloth may have been a veritable relic from 

 the petticoat of our Lady of Mercy herself, since none failed to kiss it when presented; though 

 there were neither offerings nor purchases in my presence. A sharp glance was cast towards 

 me as the young monk passed, and I fancied a twinkle from the corner of his eye, almost saying: 



