100 
GUATEMALA. 
through it. In the afternoon we were made happy by 
the arrival of Santiago and our mozos, with our luggage 
in perfect order; and not long after the Jefe Don Luis 
called, and assured us that we should have all the mozos 
we needed to carry our luggage onward. We had de¬ 
cided to take the unusual road to Quiche, about which 
even the Jefe could give us little information, and we 
found no one else who knew more; so we decided to send 
our heavier luggage direct by Salama to Guatemala City, 
while we took with us only one mozo to carry those 
things we needed by the way. 
In the evening we turned again to the church to hear 
the vesper service. The spacious edifice was dimly 
lighted by the candles on the altars and pillars, and men 
and women knelt all over the rough floor. A choir of 
female voices was singing as we entered, and soon the 
officiating priest was conducted by candle-bearing acolytes 
to the altar. The responses by the choir and orchestra 
(organ, violin, flute, and violoncello) were very impres¬ 
sive, the musicians often joining their voices to the music 
of their instruments. The Indian drum, made of hides 
rudely stretched over the hollow trunk of a tree, boomed 
from the remote part of the church, and bombs and 
rockets exploded outside in a most effective manner. A 
black-robed young priest entered a confessional near where 
I was sitting, and a veiled female at once knelt at the 
side, while others in the immediate neighborhood moved 
quietly out of earshot. The whole service was very sol¬ 
emn ; and the clouds of incense from the swinging cen¬ 
sers of the Indian boys partly concealed the tinsel and 
tarnished gilding of the uncouth altar, and even cast a 
glamour over the huge doll, which, most gaudily dressed, 
