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some loud in their merriment; and all seemed happy and out for a sunshiny holyday.

The Carnival lasted from Sunday to Tuesday, and fish and fasting were ushered in with the ringing of bells and a frequent and vigorous nasal chant, from the gang of orange-pickers in the room below, of what they call "the Litany." On Sunday a sermon was preached in one of the churches, which is as rare an event here as no sermon would be now-a-days in England. On the day following, the procession of the Terceiros scrambled through the town from the Church of the Penitents, which was formerly attached to the convent of the Friars. Previously to the procession another sermon was preached, which had the effect of cramming the church to suffocation; and the crowd being principally composed of women in their island costume, nothing was to be seen in the whole body of the church but dark blue hoods, and an occasional scarlet or yellow handkerchief on the head of a little girl, or a white muslin shawl over the head and shoulders of a young woman. Before the sermon began, there was much getting up and sitting down for the accommodation of the congregation, and some of these capacious blue hoods would occasionally

turn deliberately round and show a face in deep shadow, and eyes whose own light was sufficient in their dark caves without any other borrowed from without. A few women wore "mantas," but these were the créme of Villa Franca society; and, fortunately for the scene, the creme de la créme, who occasionally indulge in English bonnets, were either hidden or absent. The number of old and elderly men and little boys greatly preponderated over that of young men, of whom

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there were very few. A figure of Christ dying on the cross, the living size, and illuminated by a long line of tall tapers, was placed in a shrine before the altar, and partly concealed by a thin gauze curtain; and the pulpit was hung with brocaded silk. The priest who preached had what is not invariably the case here, an intellectual expression; he used much but not vehement action with his arms, and was not ungraceful. He wore a tufted square cap, which he removed occasionally; and two or three times during his discourse he paused for a considerable time, and turned round in the pulpit, either to wipe or wash his mouth. When he had nearly come to the close of his harangue, whilst describing the sufferings of Christ, the curtain concealing the figure was suddenly drawn up from the shrine, and the image exposed to view; a coup de théâtre which produced a sudden effect on the persons assembled, who, as he repeated the words

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misericordia, misericordia," in a wailing tone, struck their faces and breasts with their hands in such a manner as to resound through the church like the applause at a public meeting. One old man near me, who soberly listened to the preacher and seemed absorbed in what he

said, was much affected; tears trickled down the withered skin of a decrepit woman who knelt near me, and all except some light-hearted children appeared serious and attentive. At the conclusion of the sermon (which was the whole service) the people left the church, and the women either went home to view the procession from their balconies and windows, or sat on the steps of the churches, or stood in knots in the street to see it pass. The Terceiros led the procession. They were clad in black cloth gowns, fitting

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tightly to the neck and reaching to the feet. A cord was drawn round their waists, a triangular piece of coarse sacking masked their faces, concealing every part but the eyes, which might be seen blinking through two slits in the sackcloth, their feet were bare, each carried a wooden cross, and each was crowned with thorns. The boys at the church door giggled and pointed as they came out. They walked two and two, to the number of thirty, preceded by a black banner, and followed by wooden images, waddling priests, and four little girls dressed out like May-day mummers. These pretty children (chosen because they were so) were intended to represent angels. With this view they had been dressed by some of the ladies of Villa Franca, who had lent jewels of gold and jewels of silver for the occasion. The principal of the four wore a crown of silk or satin, on which rings, brooches, and other trinkets, and real and artificial flowers were fastened. Behind her back a pair of solid satin wings projected; and beneath them a more doubtful projection from before and behind, gave her the appearance of having jumped through a gaudy papiermaché tea-tray. Ear-rings, gold chains, bracelets, rings, brooches, pins, and other trinkets were