THE HOST. 255 



this bell is heard, all those that happen to be 

 within sight of the procession, though at ever 

 so great a distance, instantly kneel and re- 

 main in that position till it has passed out of 

 sight. On these occasions, if an American 

 happens to be within hearing, he endeavors 

 to avoid the coi-tege, by turning the corner of 

 a street or entering a shop or tlie house of a 

 friend ; for although it may be expedient, and 

 even rational, to conform ^v^th the customs 

 and ceremonies of those countries we are so- 

 journing in, very few Protestants would feel 

 disposed to fall on their knees before a coach 

 freighted with frail mortals pretending to re- 

 present the Godhead ! I am sorry to say that 

 non-compliants are frequently insulted and 

 sometimes pelted with stones by the rabble. 

 Even a foreign artisan was once massacred in 

 the Mexican metropohs because he refused 

 to come out of his shop, where he was kneel- 

 ing, and perform the act of genuflexion in the 

 street ! 



This abject idolatiy sometunes takes a still 

 more humiliating aspect, and descends to the 

 worship of men in the capacity of religious 

 mlers. On the occasion of the Bishop of 

 Burango's visit to Santa Fe in 1S33, an event 

 which had not taken place for a great riiany 

 years, the infatuated population hailed his ar- 

 rival with as much devotional enthusiasm as 

 if it had been the second advent of the Mes- 

 siah. Magnificent preparations were made 

 everywhere for his reception : the streets were 

 swept, the roads and bridges on his route re- 



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