174 THE CHURCH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 



richest silks and velvets strings of diamonds and pearls, borrowed from many a fair dame's 

 casket for the occasion, adding to the brilliancy of her ladyship. The most attractive object, 

 however, was a representation of the infant Saviour, in robes and ornaments still more luxuri- 

 ous, borne on her left arm her right hand displaying at the same time the insignia of a Chilean 

 general. Although the procession moved only from the church to the plaza, thence round three 

 of its sides, and back again, through another street, much time was consumed. The platforms, 

 saints, and canopies were very weighty, and each moment added a shower of natural flowers 

 to their load from the balconies beneath which they passed, so that the bearers were obliged to 

 pause for rest quite frequently. 



NUESTRA SENORA DEL CARMEN, patrona jurada del ejercito : Our Lady of Carmel, sworn 

 patroness of the army. The church of San Augustin was decorated with flags and flowers, as 

 those of La Merced and Santo Domingo had been, the variety and profusion of nature's exquisite 

 productions effectively captivating one's sight. A grand mass was performed in the morning, 

 at which as many of the civic troops attended as the edifice would contain, after their arms had 

 been stacked in the plazuela, under charge of a guard. How many the officers managed to pack, 

 it is difficult to say ; for, finding that it would not be easy to retreat at will, and that the 

 squeaking tones of the little old organ offered no recompense for a stand of two or three hours 

 among the copper-colored citizens composing the Guardia National, whilst they poured in at one 

 door, I escaped through another. A procession was made in the afternoon, composed of the highest 

 military chieftains, monks and priests ad libitum, the order of St. Sepulchre, representations of 

 several saints, male and female, and Our Lady of Carmel, under canopies and on thrones and 

 platforms, as mentioned on the day of the Rosaries, and finally, as then, the archbishop, with 

 his ever-attendant suite and insignia. Most of the ornaments about the canopies and thrones 

 were rich and gorgeous to a degree embossed silver flowers eclipsing in brilliancy, if not in 

 beauty, the natural creations in whose midst they were placed. The toilet of Our Lady of 

 Carmel particularly, and those of the female images generally, though most costly and profuse 

 in ornaments, scarcely concealed so much of their persons as danseuses of the French school have 

 considered it politic to cover in presence of an audience. Daylight as it was, each member of 

 the procession carried a long wax taper. From the difficulty with which the porters supported 

 the cumbrous stages, though cheered by the inspiriting sound of military music, the column 

 necessarily moved slowly. To render anew their vows of subservience, the civic battalions were 

 drawn up in two lines, extending from the door of the church along the street leading to the 

 great plaza, and around its four sides, with a space between the lines just wide enough for the 

 cortege to pass. All the remainder of the plaza, the balconies which commanded a view of it, 

 and the thoroughfares leading into it, were filled by the populace, embracing every class of 

 society, whose murmurs of delight were scarcely drowned in the fizzing and cracking noise of the 

 fireworks which welcomed the advent of the pageant. What reverence or faith in the result of 

 this propitiatory display was exhibited in the countenances of the lookers-on, may be told in one 

 word none I 



