PEOPLE, LANGUAGES, AND EELIGIONS. 
41 
tuguese by one of the Baptist missionaries, and by the 
minister of the Portuguese Free Church, who, with his 
people, are refugees from Madeira, who fled that land to 
escape the persecuting hand of popery. 
The religions of the country are, among such a mixed 
people, many and diverse. The bulk of the people 
are Catholics. It is, indeed said, that four-fifths are 
Catholics, but this is too large a proportion, since the 
introduction of so many heathens. The- Spanish and 
French speaking part of the population may be regarded 
as Catholic to a man. The government, with strange 
inconsistency, as it appears to many, pays a large salary 
to the Eoman Catholic Archbishop, some £1,000 per 
annum, and £150 per annum to the parish priests, of 
which there are about twenty-four. 
In Port of Spain there is a Catholic cathedral. One 
cannot say that its size or architecture warrant the lofty 
name. It is a building, judging by the eye only, of 
some 150 feet long, and about 70 feet wide. At the 
west end are two octagonal towers, though not lofty, 
the principal entrance being between them ; while, at 
the east end, is a large window of stained glass. It is 
capable of holding about 5,000 persons ; at least, that is 
the number which is said to be present on special occa- 
sions. There is a new edifice in New Town, and a neat 
chapel in connection with the convent in the town of 
Port of Spain. Throughout the island the churclies 
of the Catholics make no pretension to architectural 
beauty. They are very plain wooden structures, rather 
mis-shapen than well-proportioned. These places, how- 
ever, whether in town or country, are devoutly and 
numerously attended. 
The altars are fitted up with tall candlesticks and 
candles; images, muslin, crucifixes, and pictures, form 
the accessories of worship. The priest intones the mass 
in Latin, as in other countries ; the people, those few of 
them who can read, liaving their missals in their hands, 
one column of the liturgy being printed in Latin, and 
