kettle-drums, and a small troop of horsemen in short jackets and
shirts flying in the wind, next a dozen musicians, and finally, as
the principal figure, a man carrying a crimson silk standard. The
latter individual evidently was deeply conscious of his dignified
position, and his countenance eloquently expressed the quantity of
palm wine he had consumed in honor of the occasion. He sat on his
horse dressed out in the most absurd manner in a large cocked hat
trimmed with colored paper instead of gold lace, with a woman's cape
made of paper outside his coat, and with short, tight-fitting yellow
breeches and immense white stockings and shoes. Both his coat and his
breeches were liberally ornamented with paper trimmings. His steed,
led by a couple of cabezas, was appointed with similar trappings. After
marching through all the streets of the village the procession came
to a halt in front of the church.

[Papal concessions to Spain.] This festival is celebrated every year
in commemoration of the concession made by the Pope to the King of
Spain permitting the latter to appropriate to his own use certain
revenues of the Church. The Spanish Throne consequently enjoys the
right of conferring different indulgences, even for serious crimes, in
the name of the Holy See. This right, which, so to speak, it acquired
wholesale, it sells by retail to its customers (it formerly disposed
of it to the priests) in the estanco, and together with its other
monopolies, such as tobacco, brandy, lottery tickets, stamped paper,
etc., all through the agency of the priests; without the assistance
of whom very little business would be done. The receipts from the
sale of these indulgences have always been very fluctuating. In 1819
they amounted to $15,930; in 1839 to $36,390; and in 1860 they were
estimated at $58,954. In the year 1844-5 they rose to $292,115. The
cause of this large increase was that indulgences were then rendered