• A STRANGE PROCESSION. 423 



saint to his altar, and set up the candles in rough 

 wooden tripods, to be ready for grand mass the next 

 morning. At this time a discharge of rockets was 

 heard without, and going out, I saw another strange 

 procession. We had all the women ; this was com- 

 posed entirely of men, and might have passed for a 

 jubilee over the downfall of temperance. Nearly 

 all were more than half intoxicated ; and I noticed 

 that some who had kept sober during the whole of 

 the fiesta were overtaken at last. The procession 

 was preceded by files of them in couples, each car- 

 rying two plates, for the purpose of receiving some 

 of the dishes provided by the bounty of the patron. 

 Next came, borne on barrows on the shoulders of 

 Indians, two long, ugly boxes, the emblems of the 

 custody and property of the saint, one of them being 

 filled with wax received as offerings, ropes for the 

 fireworks, and other property belonging to the saint, 

 which were about being carried to the house of the 

 person now entitled to their custody ; and the other 

 had contained these things, and was to remain with 

 its present keeper as a sort of holy heirloom. Be- 

 hind these, also on the shoulders of Indians, were 

 two men, sitting side by side in large arm-chairs, 

 with scarfs around their necks, and holding on des- 

 perately to the arms of the chairs, with an expres- 

 sion of face that seemed to indicate a consciousness 

 that their elevation above their fellow-citizens was 

 precarious, and of uncertain duration, for their In- 

 dian carriers were reeling and staggering under their 



