RELIGIOUS MUMMERY. 271 



opened a breach in it, which they are continually 

 extending. 



The insalubrity of Carthagena, which has been 

 exaggerated, varies with the state of the great 

 marshes that surround it. The Cienega de Tesca, 

 which is upwards of eighteen miles in length, com- 

 municates with the ocean ; and, when in dry years 

 the salt-water does not cover the whole plain, the 

 exhalations that rise from it during the heat of the 

 day become extremely pernicious. The hilly ground 

 in the neighbourhood of the town is of limestone, 

 containing petrifactions, and is covered by a gloomy 

 vegetation of cactus, Jairopha gossypifolia, crotoh, 

 and mimosa. While the travellers were searching 

 for plants, their guides showed them a thick bush 

 of acacia cornigera, which had acquired celebrity 

 from the following occurrence : A woman, wearied 

 of the well-founded jealousy of her husband, bound 

 him at night with the assistance of her paramour, 

 and threw him into it. The thorns of this species 

 of acacia are exceedingly sharp, and of great length, 

 and the shrub is infested by ants. The more the 

 unfortunate man struggled, the more severely was 

 he lacerated by the prickles, and when his cries at 

 length attracted some persons who were passing, he 

 was found covered with blood, and cruelly tormented 

 by the ants. 



At Carthagena the travellers met with several 

 persons whose society was not less agreeable than 

 instructive ; and in the house of an officer of artil- 

 lery, Don Domingo Esquiaqui, found a very curious 

 collection of paintings, models of machinery, and 

 minerals. They had also an opportunity of witness- 

 ing the pageant of the Pascua. Nothing, says Hum- 

 boldt, could rival the oddness of the dresses of the 

 principal personages in these processions. Beggars, 

 carrying a crown of thorns on their heads, asked 

 alms, with crucifixes in their hands, and habited in 

 black robes. Pilate was arrayed in a garb of striped 



