190 
THE AMAZON AND JIADEIRA RIVERS. 
1 
tlio &'st row, close to the choir, squatted the women on mats, after 
saying a short prayer on their knees ; and behind them Avere the men. 
The few white faces, the secretary of the Prefect and two or three 
merchants, were completely lost in the croAvd of Indians; and I almost 
fancied I was hcai'ing mass in the time of Montoya or of one of Ins 
succcssoi’s. In this gallery, Avliich showed two small organs in richly- 
caiwed ca.scs with painted panels, presently assembled the musicians, 
with their fiddles, hai-ps, and bajones, under the leadership of tlie master 
of the chapel, a A'cnerable-looking old Indian, Avith large spectacles 
adjusted by a cord, with little round pieces of load, passing oA'or the 
croAA’n of his head ; and the singers with a small red flag had taken their 
post close to the solid Avooden balustrade, to help the choir below in case 
of need. The priest now appeared before the altar, and the solemn 
tones of a fine old mass swept through the spacious aisle. It was the 
festiAul of some saint; and the altar exhibited its richest silver adorn- 
ments, AV'hile slender palms, Avuviug their graceful boughs from the pillars 
of the aisle and fi'om the music ti’ibime, added the eharm of tropieid 
vegetation to the fairylike picture. 
An incident, partly comical and partly pathetic, served to intensify 
my elated frame of mmd. While I leaned over the balustrade in the 
effort to seize as much as possible of the lovely spiectacle, an elderly 
Indian with a brave little boy had knelt doAvm beside me. The old man 
had looked neither to the right nor to the left, and the beads of his 
rosary glided swiftly through his fingers ; but the child soon began to 
feel dull perhaps, and his wandering eye at last caught my watch-chain 
with the locket attached to it; yet he did not presume to extend his 
hand for it : but his smiling face and brightened eyes, when I took it 
off and gave it into his hand, clearly evidenced the delight he felt. The 
old man as yet had only looked askance oA'cr his rosaiy at our doings ; 
but Avhen, on my opening the medallion, he saw a picture in it, Avhich 
possibly he took for that of some saint, he AA’hispered a fcAV hun’ied 
Avords in the ear of the little fellow, who, seizing the locket with both 
his tiny hands, carried it devoutly to his lips. 
Quieter and more decorous behaAdoim than that of these Indians one 
could not witness. Here Avere visible none of those improprieties familiar 
in Brazil, where the free-and-easy ladies beckon to their negro boys to 
fetch them glasses of water during mass. As silently as they had come 
they returned to their cottages after the ceremony. Such indeed aaus 
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