SANTA ROSA'S DAY IN ARIMA. 301 



weight of years. Pascual is always gay, and seems satisfied with 

 his lot ; he is fond of spirits, and becomes drunk whenever an 

 opportunity is afforded ; he is otherwise most honest and peaceable. 

 The old man has sold his conuco, and now depends upon the 

 padre or parish priest for his maintenance. Two schools, one for 

 boys and another for girls, were once maintained for Indian chil- 

 dren, but, owing to the paucity of attendance, are no longer so. 



The village of Arima was formerly, and for a long time, cele- 

 brated for its festival of Santa Rosa, the patron saint of the mission. 

 On that day the Indians elected their king and queen in general, 

 a young man and young girl and all appeared in their best 

 apparel and most gaudy ornaments. The interior of the church 

 was hung with the produce of their industry bunches of plantains, 

 cassava cakes, and the fruits of the season ; game of various de- 

 scriptions, coincos, lapos, parrots, &c., and draperied with the 

 graceful leaves of the palm tree. After mass, they performed 

 ceremonial dances in the church, and then proceeded to the 

 Oasa real, or royal house, to pay their compliments to the 

 corregidor, who gave the signal for dancing and various sports 

 among others, that of archery, in which the men exercised them- 

 selves until a prize was adjudged to the best marksman. People 

 from all parts of the country would resort to Arima for the pur- 

 pose of witnessing the festivities, which were invariably attended 

 by the governor and staff. Sir Ralph Woodford, in particular, 

 always took the greatest interest in the mission, and every year 

 would distribute prizes to the children of both sexes, who deserved 

 them by their good behaviour, and their improvement at school. 

 Santa Rosa's day was really a gay anniversary, at which the poor 

 Indians, the simple children of Jere^ were, for the time, the prin- 

 cipal actors, and during which they forgot both the loss of their 

 heritage, and their own individual serfdom. 



The 30th of August is a holiday still, but bears quite a dif- 

 ferent character : people still crowd to the village from different 

 parts of the island, but there are no more Indians, neither are 

 their oblations to be seen adorning the church ; their sports and 

 their dances have passed away with the actors therein, and, in 

 their stead, quadrilles, waltzes, races, and blind-hookey are the 

 present amusements of the village. 



Northward of Tacarigua, Arima, and Guanape, are the wards 

 of Caura and Blanch isseuse. They are hilly, but the soil is, in 



