378 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



hundred yards, and presently a piece of fireworks 

 was set off, called by them the idas, or goers, and 

 known by pyrotechnists among us as flying pigeons. 

 The flaming ball whizzed along the rope backward 

 and forward, scattering fire on the heads of the 

 people underneath, and threw the whole procession 

 into confusion and laughter. The saint was hur- 

 ried into a place of security, and the people filed off* 

 on each side of the rope, out of reach of the sparks. 

 The idas went off* with universal applause, and 

 showed that the custody of the saint had not been 

 placed in unworthy hands. This over, the chant 

 was resumed, and the procession moved on till it 

 reached the house of the patron, at the door of 

 which the padrecito chanted a salve, and then the 

 saint was borne within. The house consisted of a 

 single long room, having at one end a temporary 

 altar, adorned with flowers, and at the other a table, 

 on which were spread dulces, bread, cheese, and 

 various compound mixtures both for eating and 

 drinking. 



The saint was set up on the altar, and in a few 

 minutes the patron led the way, through a door op- 

 posite that by which we had entered, into an oblong 

 enclosure about one hundred feet long and forty wide, 

 having an arbour of palm leaves overhead. The 

 floor was of hard earth, and seats were arranged 

 around the sides. All the vecinos followed, and we, 

 as strangers and attendants of the padrecito and his 

 family, were conducted to the principal places, being 



