The beautiful service of Maundy-Thursday now commenced; during the celebration of it, the ceremony of blessing the holy oils was performed; and when the _Gloria in excelsis_ was chanted, the bell was rung for the last time until Holy Saturday. At the elevation, I heard the silver staff of the _pertiguero_ resound several times upon the pavement. The _pertiguero_ is, like the _perrero_, a functionary peculiar to the cathedral; his duty is to enforce _kneeling_ at the elevation on all strangers visiting that church at the moment. He carries a long silver staff, called a _pertiga_, which he strikes with a clang upon the marble floor when he perceives any one inattentive to the strict rule of the church--prostration in presence of the host. After the mass, the blessed sacrament was carried in solemn procession to the sepulchre, the captain-general and the governor bearing the banner of the _Agnus Dei_, and all the grandees and municipality joining in it. The staves and cross-rods of the banner and of the magnificent dais held over the holy sacrament were all of silver, and appeared to be very heavy. The host was deposited in the sepulchre, which was then locked, and the golden key fastened to a chain suspended by the bishop around the neck of the captain-general, to be brought back to the church by him on Good-Friday. The beautiful hymn, _Pange lingua_, was sung very sweetly the whole time; the Latin, which seems so hard and harsh in our English pronunciation, sounding very grand and harmonious in these Spanish mouths. The church cleared very rapidly after the mass; and when the last carriage had conveyed its last occupant home, no vehicle of any kind was permitted to pass through the streets of Havana. The soldiers now carried their arms reversed, and all Spanish flags were at half-mast. The city was in mourning.