IM 



A FL YING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



corners of the square and covered with pahns and flowers. The 

 procession was formed on the steps of the cathedral and filed 

 slowly around under the arches, halting at each one whilst one of 

 the priests delivered a brief sermon. The column was headed by 

 four musicians, these were followed by several priests, then came the 

 communicants, little girls from five to ten years old and of all 

 colors. They were dressed mainly in white, some with little gauze 

 wings, as if to represent fairies at a fancy dress ball, and all wore 

 flowers in the hair. Their mothers marched on either side, all 

 dressed in black with a black shawl over their heads, and bearing a 

 candle. After the girls came the little boys carrying small banners, 

 and then came groups of men bearing on their shoulders platforms 

 with wax figures of the Virgin, Saint Joseph, and other saints. The 

 Virgin wore a crown and dress like those worn by Queen Anne. 

 One of the saints was dressed like Charles the First. The houses 

 facing the procession were made gay by flags and lace curtains 

 draped over the balconies. 



During our stay in Guaduas several detachments of soldiers 

 passed through the town escorting government stores from the river 

 to Bogota. They usually rested a day in the town, and spent their 

 time whilst there sitting in the shade of some doorway and playing 

 cards on a poncho spread on the ground. They were armed with 

 Remington rifles, but apparently knew nothing of keeping their 

 weapons in order, for such of their pieces as I examined looked as 

 if sandpaper and fat pork were the cleaning materials. 



I approached a party playing cards on the hotel stairs, and pick- 

 ing up a cartridge-belt examined the cartridges. The bullets had 

 all been drawn, the powder sold, and the bullets then put back. In 

 some cases the bullet had been lost, but a wooden plug answered 

 every purpose. 



