140 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



propose any questions to any of the students, that I might sa- 

 tisfy myself of their progress. This I declined, because I was 

 a foreigner, and unwilling to risk questions which I might fail 

 in making understood. 



Thursday, the 28th of June, was a holy-day, called the "Ota- 

 vdrio," from ^*'ocho" and ^'diario," the eighth day after Cor- 

 pus. At each corner of the plaza was erected a temporary altar, 

 decorated with saints, candles, and tinsel. On one sat St. Peter, 

 all alone with his keys, and another represented the descent 

 from the cross. During half the morning, there were crowds 

 about the corners, looking on the erection and decoration of 

 the altars, by the "peones," under the supervision of several 

 padres. The ornaments consisted of looking glasses, shells, 

 candles, silk, and tinsel ; the saints were borrowed from differ- 

 ent churches for the occasion. 



At four o'clock in the afternoon, several regiments marched 

 into the plaza, and formed two squares, single file, one within 

 the other, leaving a space of forty feet between them, for the 

 passage of the procession. The centre of the square was crowd- 

 ed with ladies, all in the usual black, church-going habiliments, 

 consisting of the mantilla or veil, and a black dress. The win- 

 dows of the neighboring houses, from which hung silk and 

 velvet banners of various colors, were crowded with ladies 

 and gentlemen. Over the doors of the houses in the principal 

 streets, flags were displayed, some half-mast, and others union 

 down, not intentionally, but through careless indifference. At 

 twilight, the candles on the several altars were lighted, the 

 bells rang, and guns were fired from the fortress on St. Lucia. 

 At the same time, the procession began to issue from the cathe- 

 dral, which was brilliantly illuminated. First came " La Co' 

 frddia," or brotherhood of the " Hermdnos de Nuestro Amo" 

 — Brothers of Our Master — wearing white satin capes, em- 

 broidered with gold, in two single files, each one bearing a 

 long wax candle. Then the friars of the several orders, each 

 one being accompanied by its respective banner or symbol, 

 consisting of a gaudy silk drum, surmounted by a cross borne 

 aloft in the air. Next followed the cadets, in full dress, from 

 the Military Academy, and a Can6nigo, chanting a psalm, pre- 



