FESTIVAL OF CORPUS ALMA. 375 



good example. In the mean time Bernaldo sus- 

 tained his culinary reputation ; and, avoiding the 

 bad habit, of Albino and his masters, while all the 

 rest of us were lank as the village dogs of that 

 country, his cheeks seemed always ready to burst 

 open. 



While we were working at the ruins, the people 

 in the village were losing no time. On the eleventh 

 began the fiesta of Corpus Alma, a festival of nine 

 days' observance in honour of Santo Cristo del 

 Amor. Its opening was announced by the ringing 

 of church bells and firing of rockets, which, fortu- 

 nately, as we were away at the ruins, we avoided 

 hearing; but in the evening came the procession 

 and the baile, to which we were formally invited 

 by a committee, consisting of the padrecito, the al- 

 calde, and a much more important person than 

 either, styled El Patron del Santo, or the Patron of 

 the Saint. 



I have mentioned that Nohcacab was the most 

 backward and thoroughly Indian of any village we 

 had visited. With this strongly-marked Indian 

 character, its church government is somewhat pe- 

 culiar, and differs, I believe, from that of all the oth- 

 er villages. Besides smaller saints, the favourites 

 of individuals, it has nine principal ones, who have 

 been selected as special objects of veneration : San 

 Mateo, the patron, and Santa Barbara, the patroness 

 of the village ; Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion ; 

 Nuestra Senora del Rosario ; El Senor del Trans- 



