30 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



There was little to be done in the way of marrying, 

 there being a scarcity of men for that purpose, as most 

 of them were away fishing or at work ; but a long file 

 of women presented themselves, each with a child in 

 her arms, for baptism. They were arranged a]|found 

 the wall in a circle, and the padre began. Of the 

 first he asked a question which I believe is not to be 

 found in the book, and which, in some places, it would 

 be considered impertinent to put to a mother who of- 

 fered her child for initiation into the Church, viz., 

 whether she was married. She hesitated, smiled, 

 laughed, and answered no. The padre told her that 

 this was very wrong and unbecoming a good Christian 

 woman, and advised her to take advantage of the pres- 

 ent opportunity to marry the child's father. She an- 

 swered that she would like to do so, but that he was 

 away cutting mahogany ; and here, as his questions and 

 her answers had to pass through an interpreter, the 

 affair began to be complicated ; indeed, so many of 

 the women interposed, all speaking at once, that the 

 padre became aware he had touched upon delicate 

 ground, and so passed on to the next. 



In fact, even with the regular business our friend had 

 enough to do. He understood but little Spanish ; his 

 book was in Latin ; and not being able to translate 

 as readily as the occasion required, he had employed 

 the interval of our absence in copying on a slip of pa- 

 per, from a Spanish Protestant prayer-book, the formal 

 part of the baptismal service. In the confusion this 

 was lost, and the padre was thrown back upon his Lat- 

 in, to be translated into Spanish as required. After 

 labouring a while, he turned to Augustin, and gave him 

 in English the questions to put to the women. Augus- 

 tin was a good Catholic, and listened to him with as 



