INSTALLATION OF ALCALDES. 



337 



cers was just expiring ; the next morning the grand 

 ceremony of the inauguration was to take place, and 

 the Iudians going out of office were actively enga- 

 ged in hunting up their successors and bringing them 

 together in the cabildo. Before retiring we went in 

 with the padrecito to look at them. Most of them 

 had been brought in, but some were still wanting. 

 They were sitting round a large table, on which lay 

 the record of their election; and, to beguile the te- 

 diousness of their honourable imprisonment, they had 

 instruments by them, called musical, which kept up a 

 terrible noise all night. Whatever were the circum- 

 stances of their election, their confinement for the 

 night was, no doubt, a wise precaution, to ensure 

 their being sober in the morning. 



When we opened our door the next day, the 

 whole village was in commotion, preparatory to the 

 august ceremony of installing the new alcaldes. 

 The Indians had slept off the debauch of the New- 

 year, and in clean dresses thronged the plaza ; the 

 great steps ascending to the church and the plat- 

 form in front were filled with Indian women dress- 

 ed in white, and near the door was a group of la- 

 dies, with mantas and veils, and the costume of the 

 senoras in the capital. The morning air was fresh 

 and invigorating ; there were no threatening clouds 

 in the sky, and the sun was pouring its early beams 

 upon the scene of rejoicing. It was a great triumph 

 of principle, and the humble mules which trod their 

 daily circle with the beam of the noria, had red rib- 



Vol L— Uu 29 



