A RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL. 



399 



The next day was the fete of Corpus Domini through- 

 out all Spanish America, the greatest in the Catholic 

 Church. Early in the morning, at the tolling of the 

 bell, we went to the Cathedral, which, with the palace 

 of the bishop, occupied one entire side of the plaza. 

 The interior was grand and imposing, having a vaulted 

 roof of stone, and two rows of lofty stone pillars ; the 

 choir was in the centre, the altar richly adorned with 

 silver ; but the great attraction was in the ladies kneel- 

 ing before the altars, with white or black veils laid over 

 the top of the head, some of them of saintlike purity and 

 beauty, in dress, manners, and appearance realizing the 

 pictures of Spanish romance. Indeed, the Spanish la- 

 dies appear nowhere so lovely as in church. 



The associations of one of my acquaintances having 

 turned out so well, I determined to present a letter of 

 introduction from friends in New- York to Don Joaquim 

 Gutierrez, whose family-name stood high in Merida, and 

 who, to my surprise, spoke English quite as well as we 

 did. He had gone the rounds of society in Europe and 

 the United States, and, like a good citizen, had returned 

 to marry one of the belles and beauties of his own coun- 

 try. His family was from Merida, but he himself was 

 resident at Campeachy ; and, being a prominent Cen- 

 tralist, had left that city on account of its blockade by 

 the Federalists, and in apprehensions of excesses that 

 might be committed against obnoxious individuals should 

 the place fall into their hands. From his house we went 

 to the plaza to see the procession. After those we had 

 seen in Guatimala this was inferior, and there were no 

 devils ; but the gathering of people under the arbour 

 and in the corridors presented a beautiful spectacle. 

 There was a large collection of Indians, both men and 

 women, the best-looking race we had seen, and all were 



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