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NOTICES OV CHILE. 



141 



ceding "Su Magestdd," or The Host, carried by priests, be- 

 neath a silken canopy, supported by silver or silvered sticks. 

 As this passed, every body knelt upon the ground. Next fol- 

 lowing was the President of Chile, in a General's uniform, 

 and the Cabinet Ministers, each bearing a candle. Near them 

 was a boy of ten years old, a descendant from the Carreras, 

 so celebrated in the Revolution, dressed in a colonel's uniform. 

 He is now educating at the Military Academy. President 

 Pinto, with consent of Congress, made him his aid, as a reward 

 for the distinguished services of his family. Close after, fol- 

 lowed the Presidential guard, and a corps of cavalry, with a 

 mounted brass band. In this order the procession moved round 

 the whole square, stopping for a short time before each altar, 

 while the censer smoked, and prayers ascended. The different 

 bands were playing in succession, guns were firing, bells were 

 ringing, and every body was uncovered. As the Host passed 

 them, the soldiers knelt on one knee, in platoons, their heads 

 bent on their breasts. The crowd in the rear imitated the ex- 

 ample. 



The procession re-entered the cathedral, the saints were re- 

 turned to their dark niches with due formality, after having 

 been aired all day in the plaza, and the whole show soon dis- 

 appeared ; — at eight o'clock the plaza presented the usual 

 nightly scene of flickering lights, ladies walking and shopping. 



Similar processions (of which I witnessed two or three) are 

 made in seasons of drought, in honor of some influential saint, 

 to obtain his or her intercession with the clouds to dispense 

 their fertilizing showers ! The efficacy of such ceremonies is 

 a matter of grave belief, because the wily priests wait till there 

 is every prospect of rain, before they begin to pray, and thus 

 the profanum vulgus are deceived into credence. The prayers 

 are more successful at one time than at another ; for I am told 

 that the whole ecclesiastic corps have labored incessantly at 

 devotion, during a whole week, without drawing a single drop 

 of water from the sky ! 



The hospitals of Santiago are not equal to similar institutions 

 in other parts of the world, as respects the comforts and at- 

 tentions afforded to the sick. That of San Juan de Dios, has 



