In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (breast) (L. shoulder) (R. shoulder) Amen. (thumb kissed). A good Catholic, say the peasants, must _persignarse_ thirty-three times in the course of the Mass, “and that would be very well if we understood the language and knew why we were doing it.” In the south people always take up a handful of water and cross themselves before bathing in the sea or in a river, some even before taking an ordinary bath at home. It will be remembered that the Moslem, when preparing for prayer, washes his nose, mouth, and ears, as well as his hands and feet, and possibly this elaborate mode of making the sign of the cross may be a survival of the Moslem ceremonial of purification, especially when combined with the water. One distinctly Islamic tradition is seen in the custom of touching anything unclean, if it has to be touched, with the left hand, the right being put behind the back. A woman of Andalusia when washing the dead for burial always begins operations with the left hand, just as the Moslem does, and will not use the right until it becomes necessary. Thus it is not impossible that the curious sign of the cross described, like the traditional reason for insistence on infant baptism, even when the other offices of the Church are viewed with indifference, may be connected more or less closely, as the peasants say, with Mohammedan practices. In the south and west the peasants never put on clean underlinen without the _persignar_, and previous to the crossing they recite the following prayer: “Blessed and washed be the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, pure and clean, of the always Virgin Mary, Our Lady, conceived without spot of original sin from the first instant of her most pure human nature. Amen.” No matter how great their aversion from the Confessional and indifference to the offices of the Church, the most careless never omit this invocation when they change their underclothes. Another prayer, which is universal, reminds one of the-- “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on” of our own peasantry in bygone days. It runs thus: “_Con Dios me acuesto, Con Dios me levanto, Con la Virgen Maria, Y el Espíritu Santo_.” (“With God I lie down, with God I arise, with the Virgin Mary, and the Holy Ghost.”) As will be observed, the Virgin here takes the place of Christ in the Trinity. I have inquired of a number of people how the verse goes, and find it does not vary. They say that evil would befall them if they failed to recite the lines every morning and night.