218 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



ferocity, and carrying their muskets without any order ; 

 the officers dressed in any costume they could com- 

 mand ; a few, with black hat and silver or gold band, 

 like footmen, carried their heads very high. Many 

 were lame from gunshot wounds badly cured; and a 

 gentleman who was with me pointed out several who 

 were known to have committed assassinations and 

 murders, for which, in a country that had any govern- 

 ment, they would have been hung. The city was at 

 their mercy, and Carrera was the only man living who 

 had any control over them. 



At the head of the street the procession filed off in 

 the cross streets, and the figure of the Virgin was taken 

 from its place and set up on the altar. The priests kneel- 

 ed before it and prayed, and the whole crowd fell on 

 their knees. I was at the corner near the altar, which 

 commanded a view of four streets, and rising a little on 

 one knee, saw in all the streets a dense mass of kneel- 

 ing figures, rich men and beggars, lovely women and 

 stupid-looking Indians, fluttering banners and curtains 

 in balconied windows, and the figures of angels in their 

 light gauze drapery seeming to float in air ; while the 

 loud chant of the crowd, swollen by the deep chorus of 

 the soldiers' voices, produced a scene of mingled beauty 

 and deformity at once captivating and repulsive. This 

 over, all rose, the Virgin was replaced on her throne, 

 and the procession again moved. At the next altar I 

 turned aside and went to the square in front of the 

 Church of San Francisco, the place fixed for the grand 

 finale of the honours to the Virgin, the exhibition of 

 fireworks ! 



At dark the procession entered the foot of a street 

 leading to the square. It approached with a loud 

 chant, and at a distance nothing was visible but a long 



