d it is
noticeable that the majority are women. They are constantly arriving,
pouring in at several gates of the city in an almost continual stream,
accompanied by priests, banners, and crosses, and alternately singing
and praying. There are many of them heavily laden, their packs on their
backs, their bright brass pans, pitchers, and kettles of all shapes in
their hands, or slung on their arms, while their fingers are busily
employed with their beads. Wayworn and footsore, fatigued and hungry,
they yet pursue their toilsome march, intent upon the attainment of the
one object of their pilgrimage. It is curious and picturesque to see
their long lines of processions in the open country, wending their slow
way over the hills, and to hear their hymns, mellowed by distance into a
pleasant sound across the broad Rhine. From Germany, Belgium, Holland,
France, Hungary, and even Switzerland and Italy they come, and during
the whole of their journeys the pilgrims sing and pray almost
continually. The accomplishment of their pilgrimages entitles them, by
payment of a small offering, to certain absolutions and indulgences. The
pure-minded peasant girl seeks remission of sins, the foodless peasant a
liberty to eat what the expenses of this pilgrimage will perhaps deprive
him of the means of obtaining. The city is literally packed with
pilgrims, and the scene in the market-place at nightfall is in the
highest degree interesting and picturesque.

"The Holy Coat of Treves" is a simple tunic, apparently of linen or
cotton, of a fabric similar to the closely woven mummy-cloth of the
Egyptians. Undoubtedly it is of great antiquity, which many sacred
_reliques_ may or may not be, judging from their appearances. In
appearance it is precisely the same as is that worn by the modern Arab.

This form of tunic, then, has come down from the ages with but little
change in the fashions, and seems to be worn by all classes in the East.
In colour the relic may originally have been blue, though now of course
it is much faded; in fact, is a rusty brown.

The history of this holy robe, according to a Professor Marx, who wrote
an account of it which had the approval of the Archbishop of Treves, is
authenticated as far back as 1157 by written testimony, it having been
mentioned as then existing in the cathedral of Treves by Frederick I. in
a letter addressed to Hillen, Archbishop of Treves in that year. Its
earliest history depends wholly on tradition,