"The manner in which these wretches were clothed, was equally calculated to excite horror and pity. Not only the living persons, but the statues also, had each a samarra of grey stuff, painted all over with devils, flames, and burning firebrands; upon which the portrait of the wearer was naturally represented on both sides, with his sentence underwritten in large characters, briefly stating his name and country, and the nature of the crime for which he was condemned. With this strange garment, they also wore those frightful carochas, covered, like the robe, with demons and fire. "The little chests which inclosed the bones of the deceased, the proceedings against whom had been conducted either before or after their deaths, or prior to, or pending their imprisonment, for the purpose of giving colour to the confiscation of their property, were also painted black, and covered with flames and devils. "As the publication of the proceedings against each party commenced, he was conducted by the alcalde into the middle of the aisle, where he continued standing with a lighted taper in his hand, until his sentence was delivered. I was summoned, in my turn, and was declared excommunicate; my goods were forfeited to the king, and myself banished from the Indies, and condemned to serve in the galleys of Portugal for five years; and moreover to perform such other penances, as might be expressly enjoined by the Inquisitors. "The ceremony being concluded, and the Inquisitor re-seated, the wretched victims to be sacrificed by the holy Inquisition were ordered to advance separately. There were a man and a woman, and the images of four men deceased, with the chests in which their bones were deposited. The man and woman were black native Christians accused of magic, and condemned as apostates; but, in truth, as little sorcerers as those by whom they were condemned. "The proceedings against these unfortunates were then read, all of which concluded in these terms: 'That the mercy of the holy office being prevented by their relapse or contumacy, and being indispensably obliged to punish them according to the rigour of the law, it gave them up to the secular power and civil justice, which it nevertheless entreated to regard with mercy and clemency these miserable creatures, and if they were liable to capital punishment, that it should be inflicted without the effusion of blood.' "At the conclusion of these words, a tipstaff of the lay court approached, and seized his victims, each previously receiving a slight blow on the breast from the alcalde of the holy office, to testify that they were abandoned. "How benevolent is the Inquisition thus to intercede for the guilty! What extreme condescension in the magistrates, to be satisfied, from complaisance to the Inquisition, with burning the culprits to the very marrow of their bones, rather than shed their blood!