160 A YEAR IN BRAZIL. 



from a pulpit which had been erected for that purpose. 

 The preacher was very eloquent, and the sermon was stir- 

 ring. A litany was then chanted, every one kneeling, after 

 which the two processions joined into one and went down 

 the village, stopping at one chapel, and then returning to 

 the church in the following order : a thurifer swinging a 

 censer, from which proceeded clouds of incense ; then the 

 figure of Christ, followed by the Virgin, dressed in a violet 

 silk dress and blue cloak, both of damask ; next came the 

 sixty young girls ; then the Host, carried by a priest under 

 a canopy held by six men. The procession was of great 

 length, as there was a row of some three hundred men on 

 each side of the road, each man holding a lighted candle. 

 A huge company of women and children followed behind. 



On returning to the church, the Host was censed and 

 replaced in the tabernacle ; the sixty girls seated them- 

 selves on the altar steps, and a packet of sugar-plums was 

 given to each of them. The church was crowded women 



o 



in the nave, men in the chancel and then Padre Antonio, 

 climbing up into the pulpit by a ladder from outside, 

 preached another sermon. He ranted and raved so much 

 that I could hardly make out a word he said, but the 

 sermon closed with a scene which apparently moved the 

 people greatly. Speaking of the scenes in the Judgment 

 Hall, he said, " This was the beginning. What was the end ?" 

 and, pointing with his finger towards the altar, a purple 

 curtain was drawn back, revealing a cross with life-sized 

 figure of our Lord on it, and the Virgin standing at the 

 foot. I dare say this kind of appeal to the senses may 

 influence the uneducated minds of the people, as pictures 

 are useful to children by conveying ideas more forcibly 

 than mere word-painting ; but, of course, there is much in 

 these processions and goings-on which is repellent and 



