RELIGIOUS MUMMERY. 26i) 



the town is of limestone, containing petiifactions, and is CHARXXII. 



covered by a gloomy vegetatioii of cactus, Jutropha veget«tioa 



yossypifolia, croton, and mimosa. While the ti-avellers 



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 Agreeable 

 whose society was not less agreeable than instructive ; ^''"^'y- 

 and in the house of an officer of artillery, Don Domingo 

 Esquiaqui, found a very curious collection of paintings, 

 models of machinery, and minerals. They had also an 

 opportunity of witnessing the pageant of the Pascua. 

 Nothing, says Humboldt, could rival the oddness of the Pageant of 

 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 

 silk, and the apostles, seated round a large table covered 

 with sweetmeats, were carried on the shoulders of Zam- 

 b'oes. At sunset, effigies of Jews in French vestments, 

 and formed of straw and other combustibles, were burnt 

 in the principal streets. 



Dreading the insalubrity of the town, the travellers vuiage of 

 retired on the 6th April to the Indian village of Turbaco, '^f''** 

 situated in a beautiful district, at the entrance of a large 

 forest, about l7j miles to tlie south-'eest of the Popa, 

 one of the most remarkable summits l"a the neighbour- 

 hood of Carthagena. Here they rem<;iued until they 

 made the necessary preparations for their voyage on the 

 Rio ]\Iagdalena, and for the long journey which they 



