On Holy Thursday, accompanied by two of my countrymen, I sallied forth at three o’clock, to see the churches, which are, on this occasion, lighted up, and highly ornamented. The whole town was in motion; the females, too, both high and low, were this afternoon parading the streets on foot, contrary to their usual custom; many of them were dressed in silks of different colours, and covered with gold chains and other trinkets, a general muster being made of all the finery that could be collected. The blaze in some of the churches, from great numbers of wax tapers, was prodigious; the object apparently aimed at was the production of the greatest quantity of light, as in some instances mirrors were fixed behind the tapers. The middle of the body of these churches is completely open; there are no pews, no distinction of places; the principal chapel is invariably at the opposite end from the chief entrance, recedes from the church, and is narrower; this part is appropriated to the officiating priests, and is railed in from the body of the church. The females, as they enter, whether white or of colour, place themselves as near to the rails as they can, squatting down upon the floor of the large open space in the centre. The men stand along either side of the body of the church, a narrow slip being in most instances railed off lengthways; or they remain near to the entrance, behind the women; but every female, of whatever rank or colour, is first accommodated. On the following day, Good Friday, the decorations of the churches, the dress of the women, and even the manner of both sexes was changed; all was dismal. In the morning I went with the same gentlemen to the church of the Sacramento, to witness a representation of our Saviour’s descent from the Cross. We entered the church by a side door; it was much crowded, and the difficulty of getting in was considerable. An enormous curtain hung from the ceiling, excluding from the sight the whole of the principal chapel. An Italian Missionary Friar of the Penha convent, with a long beard, and dressed in a thick dark brown cloth habit, was in the pulpit, and about to commence an extempore sermon. After an exordium of some length, adapted to the day, he cried out “Behold him;” the curtain immediately dropped, and discovered an enormous Cross, with a full-sized wooden image of our Saviour, exceedingly well carved and painted, and around it a number of angels represented by several young persons, all finely decked out, and each bearing a large pair of out-stretched wings, made of gauze; a man, dressed in a bob wig, and a pea green robe, as St. John, and a female kneeling at the foot of the Cross, as the Magdalen; whose character, as I was informed, seemingly that nothing might be wanting, was not the most pure. The friar continued, with much vehemence, and much action, his narrative of the crucifixion, and after some minutes, again cried out “Behold, they take him down;” when four men, habited in imitation