92 PARA. Chap. III. 



honour of Our Lady of Nazareth : it is, I believe, 

 peculiar to Para. As I have said before, it falls in the 

 second quarter of the moon, about the middle of the 

 dry season — that is, in October or November — and lasts, 

 like the others, nine days. On the first day a very 

 extensive procession takes place, starting from the 

 Cathedral, whither the image of the saint had been 

 conveyed some days previous, and terminating at the 

 chapel or hermitage, as it is called, of the saint at 

 Nazareth, a distance of more than two miles. The 

 whole population turns out on this occasion. All the 

 soldiers, both of the line and the National Guard, take 

 part in it, each battalion accompanied by its band of 

 music. The civil authorities, also, with the President 

 at their head, and the principal citizens, including many 

 of the foreign residents, join in the line. The boat of 

 the shipwrecked Portuguese vessel is carried after the 

 saint on the shoulders of officers or men of the Brazilian 

 navy, and along with it are borne the other symbols 

 of the miracles which Our Lady is supposed to have 

 performed. The procession starts soon after the sun's 

 heat begins to moderate— that is, about half-past four 

 o'clock in the afternoon. When the image is deposited 

 in the chapel the festival is considered to be inaugurated, 

 and the village every evening becomes the resort of the 

 pleasure-loving population, the holiday portion of the 

 progi-amme being preceded, of course, by a religious 

 service in the chapel. The aspect of the place is then 

 that of a fair, witliout the humour and fun, but, at the 

 same time, without the noise and coarseness of similar 

 holidays in England. Large rooms are set apart for 



