336 VASCO DA GAMA. 



on every tower ; the fronts of the houses were clothed 

 in gorgeous drapery, which swelled and floated in the 

 wind ; stages were erected on which mysteries were 

 performed ; bells were ringing, artillery boomed. 

 Marble balconies were crowded with ladies and cava- 

 liers, and out of upper windows peeped forth the faces 

 of girls, who were kept in semi-Oriental seclusion. 

 Presently the sound of trumpets could be heard ; and 

 then came in view a thousand friars, who chanted a 

 litany, while behind them an immense crowd chanted 

 back in response. At the head of this procession 

 rode a gentleman richly dressed ; he was followed by 

 a hundred and forty-eight men in sailors' clothes, but 

 bare-footed, and carrying tapers in their hands. On 

 they went till they reached the quay where the boats, 

 fastened to the shore, swayed to and fro with the move- 

 ment of the tide, and strained at the rope as if striving 

 to depart. The sailors knelt. A priest of venerable 

 appearance stood before them, and made a general 

 confession, and absolved them in tbe form of the bull 

 which Prince Henry had obtained. Then the wives 

 and mothers embraced their loved ones whom they 

 bewailed as men about to die. And all the people 

 wept. And the children wept also, though they knew 

 not why. 



Thirty-two months passed, and again the water-side 

 was crowded, and the guns fired, and the bells rung. 

 Again Vasco da Gama marched in procession through 

 the streets; and behind him walked, with feeble steps, 

 but with triumph gleaming in their eyes, fifty-five 

 men — the rest were gone. But in that procession 

 were not only Portuguese, but also men with white 

 turbans and brown faces ; and sturdy blacks, who bore a 

 chest which was shown by their straining muscles 



