210 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



which had attracted so much veneration in the 

 church, Santiago on horseback, with his scarlet and 

 embroidered mantle and green velvet pantaloons 

 bordered with gold. This was followed by the 

 cura, a fat, yellow-looking half-breed, with his two 

 dirty-faced assistants. Directly under me the pro- 

 cession stopped, and the priests, turning toward the 

 figure of the saint, set up a chant. This over, the 

 figure moved on, and stopping from time to time, 

 continued to work its way around the church, until 

 finally it was restored to its place on the altar. So 

 ended the fair of Jalacho and the fete of Santiago, 

 the second which I had seen since my arrival in the 

 country, and both exhibiting the powerful influence 

 of the ceremonials of the church over the minds of 

 the Indians. Throughout the state, this class of the 

 inhabitants pays annually a tax of twelve reales per 

 head for the support of the cura ; and it was said 

 on the ground that the Indians at this fiesta had 

 paid eight hundred dollars for salves, five hundred 

 for aves, and six hundred for masses, which, if true, 

 was an enormous sum out of their small earnings. 



But the fiesta was over, and almost immediately the 

 crowd was in motion, preparing to set out for home. 

 At three o'clock every street was lined with people, 

 some less and others more heavily laden than they 

 came, and some carrying home the respectable head 

 of a family in a state of brutal intoxication ; and 

 here I particularly remarked, what I had frequently 

 observed before, that among all the intoxication of 



