ortance there were very gorgeous processions. The principal
features were the bands of music, the choir, acolytes, priests, and
rich people,--the poor have no place--all arrayed in purple and fine
linen; gold, silver, pearls, and rare jewels sparkled in the sun by
day, or, at night, in the light of the candles and torches carried
by thousands of men, women and children.

It was a trying experience to be awakened from sound sleep by the
firing of guns. It was necessary to be always armed and ready to
receive the "peaceful people." (We read daily in the American papers
that all danger was over.)

A characteristic feature of each town is a plaza at its center, and
here the people have shrines or places of worship at the corners,
the wealthier people, only, having them in their homes.

Smallpox is a disease of such common occurrence that the natives
have no dread of it; the mortality from this one cause alone is
appalling. This brings to mind the funeral ceremony, which, since the
natives are all Catholics, is always performed by the padre or priest.

In red, pink, or otherwise gayly decorated coffin, the corpse,
which is often exposed to view and sometimes covered with cheap
paper flowers, bits of lace and jewelry, is taken to the church,
where there are already as many as five or six bodies at a time
awaiting the arrival of the priest to say prayers and sprinkle holy
water upon them. If the family of the deceased is too poor to buy or
rent a coffin, the body is wrapped in a coarse mat, slung on a pole,
and carried to the outer door of the church, to have a little water
sprinkled thereon or service said over it. If the families are unable
to rent a spot of earth in the cemetery, their dead are dumped into a
pile and left to decay and bleach upon the surface. In contrast with
this brutal neglect of the poor, is the lavish expenditure of the
rich. The daughter of one of the wealthy residents having died, the
body was placed in a casket elaborately trimmed with blue satin, the
catafalque also was covered with blue satin and trimmed with ruffles
of satin and lace. In the funeral procession, the coffin was carried
on the shoulders of several young men, while at the sides walked young
ladies, each dressed in a blue satin gown with a long train and white
veil, and each lavishly decorated with precious jewels. They held long,
blue satin ribbons fastened to the casket. At the door of the church
the casket was taken in charge by