large cross, with the carved
image of our Saviour nailed to it, the face of the image carried
forward. This was intended to signify, that those in advance of the
crucifix, and upon whom the Saviour looked down, were not to suffer; and
that those who were behind, and upon whom his back was turned, were cast
away, to perish for ever, in this world and the next. Behind the
crucifix followed the seven condemned; and, as the greatest criminal,
Amine walked the last. But the procession did not close here. Behind
Amine were five effigies, raised high on poles, clothed in the same
dresses, painted with flames and demons. Behind each effigy was borne a
coffin, containing a skeleton; the effigies were of those who had died
in their dungeon, or expired under the torture, and who had been tried
and condemned after their death, and sentenced to be burnt. These
skeletons had been dug up and were to suffer the same sentence as, had
they still been living beings, they would have undergone. The effigies
were to be tied to the stakes, and the bones were to be consumed. Then
followed the members of the Inquisition; the familiars, monks, priests,
and hundreds of penitents in black dresses, which concealed their faces,
all with the lighted tapers in their hands.
It was two hours before the procession, which had paraded through almost
every important street in Goa, arrived at the cathedral in which the
further ceremonies were to be gone through. The barefooted culprits
could now scarcely walk, the small sharp flints having so wounded their
feet, that their tracks up the steps of the cathedral were marked with
blood.
The grand altar of the cathedral was hung with black cloth, and lighted
up with thousands of tapers. On one side of it was a throne for the
Grand Inquisitor, on the other, a raised platform for the Viceroy of
Goa, and his suite. The centre aisle had benches for the prisoners and
their godfathers; the other portions of the procession falling off to
the right and left to the side aisles, and mixing for the time with the
spectators. As the prisoners entered the cathedral, they were led into
their seats, those least guilty sitting nearest to the altar, and those
who were condemned to suffer at the stake being placed the farthest from
it.
The bleeding Amine tottered to her seat, and longed for the hour which
was to sever her from a Christian world. She thought not of herself,
nor of what she was to suffer: she thou
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