many and many an age some such procession has been winding through these
narrow, irregular streets, the form changing, but the intention remaining
ever the same--Praise to the Giver of the Increase.

The programme for the next day contained nothing till 5 p.m., when there
were more horse-races, then Vespers in the Matrice, brilliantly
illuminated; after dusk fireworks outside the Trapani Gate, and at night
a concert in the illuminated balio.

In the afternoon of Wednesday, the 28th, a procession of fifty-nine mules
and horses passed through the town. Each animal was accompanied by its
owner, a peasant of the comune, and was loaded with bags of grain, an
offering for the Madonna. This grain was to be sold and, in the mean
time, was estimated to be worth 2500 lire. About 1500 lire was collected
during the festa, partly at the church doors and partly in the value of
unused wax candles, and the municipio gave 1000, so that altogether the
receipts were about 5000 lire. Against this the expenses of the festa
were expected to amount to about 4000 lire, and the balance will go
towards the expenses of the next.

CHAPTER XI--THE RETURN

The procession of the grain closed the harvest home and in the evening of
the same day began the proceedings relating to the Return of the Madonna
to Custonaci. At 8 p.m. another procession started. First came the band
to clear the way, then a man beating a drum; this is a feature of
Sicilian processions and is said to date from the time when the Saracens
had possession of the island; it continues as long as the procession
lasts, which may be for hours, and produces an unexpected effect. There
is so much else going on that after a time you forget to notice it. But
you have not really got away from it; you are being unconsciously
saturated, and after the festa is over you become aware that you are
suffering from a surfeit of drum; the rhythm runs in your head and keeps
you awake at night; when you go out of doors you expect to hear it in the
distance; when you turn a corner you listen for it, and as it is not
there you find yourself listening for it all the more anxiously. But
this wears off after two or three days.

Behind the drum came peasants walking two and two, carrying candles and
an occasional banner; then the Society of the Misericordia, wearing those
mysterious dresses that cover them entirely from head to foot, with holes
for the eyes; then priests and men with lamps,