236 
FEAST DAYS. 
forget the fact of being so very far from the 
cradle of Roman Catholicism and the currents 
of civilisation. 
To think that these sweet-voiced choristers, 
who, till they became students at the monastery 
school, lived in savage freedom in the w r ild 
mountains in the interior, chant the Latin 
liturgy thus unfalteringly ! 
Nothing could be more picturesque than the 
scene on feast-days. To the right of the aisle 
the ladies of our party in graceful mantilla ; to 
the left, officers in epaulette and decoration min- 
gling with the few European residents of Dilly in 
sombre black ; the band of the troops standing 
between in gay uniform, with their glistening in- 
struments ready to be upraised at the elevation of 
the Host ; farther back, in a pewless space, native 
dames in smothering veils and ten-width black 
silk gowns, who balloon their skirts on gaudy mats 
spread by gaily dressed attendants, who squat 
on the corners to fan their lady; behind these 
humble native women, seated on -the bare flags, 
nursing their infants and keeping their little 
ones orderly ; near the open door, stretching his 
neck that he may lose none of the spectacle, 
tow T ers a beaming-faced negro, in pure white 
jacket ; leaning on the pillars of the porch is a 
