INDULGENCES. I55 
At the doors of most of these sacred buildings ladies were seated, who 
received alms on large silver dishes, and rewarded you with a sweet 
smile ; but in the sacristy of the Cathedral a system of begging was car- 
ried on that I did not notice elsewhere. It was a regular fair for Indul- 
gences. 
The body of our Lord, in wax, was laid on a bier near the door as 
you entered from the Cathedral, and near it, another figure was set up, 
representing him as he came bleeding and wasted from the scourgers. 
Close to these two figures sat priests begging every passer for a donation 
in return for indulgences. " Ten years' indulgence for an alms to the 
Holy Sepulchre," said one of them, with the plate before him ; and 
^'twenty years' indulgence for an alms for the redemption of the faithful 
in captivity," shouted a tall blue-gowned Franciscan, who stood near the 
door as you went out, over-bidding his less liberal competitor between the 
figures. 
25th, Good Friday. The gay dresses of yesterday are exchanged for 
deep black, worn, by both men and women, and the day is celebrated by 
solemn services. I missed seeing the " descent from the cross," in the 
church of Balbanera, which is said to be performed by puppets, and to 
be admirably well executed. 
26th. This is the last day of the ceremonies, and at half-past nine 
in the morning the injunction was taken from the bells and carriages. 
The streets were of course immediately filled with all the equipages of 
the city, whose postillions only waited for the first sound from the church- 
towers, to dash out of their court-yards. The clang of the bells was in- 
cessant, and at the same moment, the air was filled with the smoke and 
explosion of myriads of crackers and fireworks, called "Judases" and 
" heretics'' extended on ropes across the streets. The multitudes of dogs 
with which the city is infested, scared at the unusual racket, howled 
along the streets, and the great amusement of the leperos was to trip the 
poor beasts with ropes as they dashed wildly over the crowded thorough- 
fares. And so ended in smoke, yells, jingling, carriage-rolling, horse- 
tramping, Judas-bursting, dog-tripping, and folly, this farcical caricature 
of the most awful event in the history of religion. In the vanity of per- 
sonal ostentation its effect is thrown away on the better classes, while it is 
entirely lost in the barbaric spectacle and tinsel show which are got up to 
bewilder and surprise the ignorant and low. 
