324 THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



pagate superstitions which are, alas ! but too widely spread over 

 'Peru, and indeed over all South America. 



A very intelligent Limanian told me, that when a child, her 

 nurse carried her to hear a sermon at one of those night meet- 

 ings. The priest, after the celebration of mass, ascended the 

 pulpit. He set forth in glowing terms all the horrors of hell — 

 the torments that awaited those who in this world neglected 

 confession and the purchase of indulgencies, and at length, by 

 his eloquence, wrought the whole congregation to tears. He 

 then exclaimed, <*Ye are cursed — and your souls will burn 

 and blaze forever, as I do now," at the same time throwing 

 out his arms ; his. sleeves, which had been purposely wet with 

 spirits, took fire in one of the candles. While thus in flames, 

 he seized a crucifix, and rushed from the pulpit, crying, <*Let 

 me escape the contamination of these vile sinners." 



Besides the feasts imposed and alms begged, the people are 

 burthened with the charge of «<Bulas de Gruzada" or Crusade 

 Bulls, and other indulgencias." 



Las bulas de Cruzada were originally conceded to the kings 

 of Spain by the popes, and the profits resulting from their sale 

 were devoted to aid the holy wars or Crusades, and hence 

 their name. When the age of chivalry faded away before the 

 advancing lights of knowledge, and the necessity that created 

 the vending of the bulas de Cruzada had ceased, they had be- 

 come a lucrative branch of the church revenue. Soon after the 

 conquest of America, the bulas de Cruzada were introduced ; 

 and at the commencement of the revolution, there were five 

 difierent kinds of bulas, each one possessing its respective vir- 

 tues. These were the bull of the living, the ^Macticinio," or 

 that for food into the composition of which milk entered 

 largely, the dispensation for eating meat on days orf abstinence, 

 and the . bulls of the dead, and of composition or reconciliation. 

 To each was affixed a price ; they were sold from two reales 

 and a half to fifteen dollars, according to their supposed vir- 

 tues, and the pecuniary circumstances of the purchaser. The 

 hulls were published every two years, at the end of which pe- 

 riod their virtues ceased, and a new sale was made ; it was 

 therefore necessary to purchase new ones. The bulls were 



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