Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/342

294 laid on a table, placed in the centre of the little square of Santo Domingo, without an instance ever having occurred of a greater offering being made. With the total amount of what is collected, the charges of the annual festival, in honour of the above-mentioned image, are, however, liquidated, as well as all the disbursements attendant on the worship alluded to. In the case of the demise of any of the members, the burial charges are defrayed from the same source; but for the masses and responses each fraternity subscribes six reals. Whenever there is a deficiency, a collectlion is made by the head corporals, who distribute the amount among the subordinate corporals and brethren, the latter being, on all occasions, subject to their decisions.

Formerly the Terranovans and Lucumes cultivated the worship of the image of San Salvador, in the great convent of our Lady of Mercy; but at the present time this devotion belongs to the Congoes, whose fellowship is established in the avenue of the convent of San Francisco de Paula, without any support except that of the alms collected voluntarily among themselves. In the same way the Mandinguans had a fellowship, or place of assembly, in the church of the great convent of San Francisco, dedicated to the Virgin, under the title of our Lady of Lima: it is at this time in ruins; and the other fellowships which subsisted in the churches of San Sebastian and Monserrat, in the chapel of Baratillo, and in the small chapel at the extremity of the bridge, appear to be in the same condition. The negroes, mulattoes, and quarterons, consisting principally of Creoles, or individuals born in the country, have a fellowship in the church of San Augustin, for the worship of San Nicolas. They chase their major-domo with