CARNIVALS IN MANY LANDS 243 



may, nevertheless, be allowed to go unmolested. But 

 these barbarous customs do not appear to be so strictly 

 observed to-day as in former times. It is related that, 

 owing to an accident, all the women of a certain village 

 caught sight at the same moment of the masquerade 

 outfit when not in use. In this case, of course, nothing 

 could be done but to pardon them all and make known 

 to them the whole secret." 



Dr. John Macgregor in the record of his tour round 

 the world some twenty odd years ago gives a delightful 

 description of a carnival he witnessed in New Orleans l : 

 " After the preliminary gaieties of the week, it was 

 on the 1 8th that ' Rex,' the King of the Carnival, made 

 his triumphant entry into the city of New Orleans, 

 having previously gone up the river a few miles for 

 the purpose of giving effect to this part of the show. 

 Those personally engaged in these processions are kept 

 secret on account of the mysticism connected with their 

 performances on these occasions ; for no one out of 

 the charmed circle is supposed to know who Rex 

 or any one else of them may be till the whole festival 

 is completely over, for they are all masked through 

 the entire celebrations. The tableaux themselves are 

 also secretly constructed and guarded with equal 

 jealousy from the gaze of the curious till they are once 

 and for all launched upon the streets, although their 

 preparation and outfits take up the greater portion of 

 the year preceding their exhibition. 



Rex then, accompanied by his chief officers of State, 



all masked and accoutred, came ashore from one of 



the river boats with all the pomp of a monarch, among 



the bunting of ships, the decorations of streets, the roar 



1 See Bibliography, 43. 



