“First comes a host of Indian warriors in feather pomp. The city
militia with pikes and weapons glittering, the stocks of their guns
embossed with gold, the noble guard on horseback, ... university
professors in brilliant gowns, the royal council and officials, the
magistracy in crimson velvet lined with brocade of the same color
... the chamber of accounts, the audience on horses with trappings,
the scepter-carrier, heralds in armor with uncovered heads, the
master of the horse with drawn sword, accompanied by four servants in
livery, pages with the captain of the watch, and lastly, on a throne
of red velvet whose silver staffs are carried by the members of the
corporation, while the _alcaldes_ hold the cords, all in velvet caps
and gowns of incarnation color, rides the viceroy under the royal
banner and a canopy of cloth of gold. Officers of the royal household,
the royal guard in full armor with spear and shield, bring up the rear
on horseback.”
The procession moves between companies of halberdiers in a blaze of
trumpets, bells, and drums, under showers of flowers thrown from carved
balconies.
“When they reach the plaza the whole company faces the cathedral and
is received by the archbishop and by the superiors of the religious
orders; trumpets cease, knights dismount, and the multitude sings a Te
Deum.
“The procession again mounts and accompanies the viceroy to the palace
gates.”
“Five days of bull-fights follow, and prizes are bestowed upon those
who make the most ingenious compositions in praise of the viceroy.
The rector of the university prepares a poetical contest, at which
the viceroy presides, seated upon the rectoral chair, which for this
occasion glitters with the magnificence of an Eastern throne. The
nunneries entertain him with music and present him with curiosities.”
The churches of Lima were hung with velvet and tapestry, with fringes
of gold and silver and plates of gold hung in design, so that the walls
were nowhere to be seen. Spanish and Flemish paintings surrounded
altars of wrought silver. The sacred vessels were of gold, covered
with pearls and precious stones. Santo Domingo, the oldest of the
brotherhood, possessed a set of thirty candelabra of massive silver,
man-high, placed in a double row along the nave of the church. The
cloister contained a famous orange garden with wrought-iron waterways
and life-sized paintings of Dominicus. In its center was a fountain,
whose delicious drip belied its hidden presence under feathery vines.
Indeed, why should the church not claim vast riches? One sixth of the
population was in the monasteries, and those who were not of the number
bought the dress of a religious order in which to be buried. The whole
city took part in the sacred feast days, as many in the procession as
looking on: legions of monks and thousands of nuns, priests, orders,
religious societies, and brotherhoods with their standards, holy
pictures, silver crosses, scepters, and biers.
II
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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