t-governor, and other officers of the
settlement, navy, and marines, to the number of ten, at dinner.

The next being the day of Corpus Christi, a day of great religious
observance and ceremony in Roman Catholic countries, no boats were sent
from the transports to the shore. The business of watering, getting off
wine, etc. was suspended by Captain Phillip's directions until the
morrow, to prevent the least interruption being given by any of the
people under his command to the ceremonies and processions which were to
take place. Those officers, whose curiosity led them to observe the
religious proceedings of the day, very prudently attended uncovered, and
knelt, wherever kneeling was required, in the streets, and in their
churches; for, when it was considered that the same great Creator of the
universe was worshipped alike by Protestant and Catholic, what difficulty
could the mind have in divesting their pageant of its tinsel, its
trappings, and its censers, and joining with sincerity in offering the
purest incense, that of a grateful heart?

The Marquis De Branceforte, whom we found in the government of the Canary
Isles, was, we were informed, a major-general in the Spanish service, and
having been three years in the government, only waited, it was said, for
his promotion to the rank of lieutenant-general to return to Spain. The
salary annexed to this government, as we understood, was not quite equal
to fifteen hundred pounds a year. His Excellency's house was situated at
the upper end of the High Street, or Square, as it was called, and was by
no means the best in the town. Mr. Carter (the treasurer) and some
private merchants appearing to reside in larger and much better
habitations. The houses in most of the streets were built with
quadrangles, a gallery running round the interior sides of the first
floor, on which indeed the families chiefly resided, appropriating the
ground floor to offices for domestic purposes. The dwelling-rooms were
not ceiled, but were open to the roof of the building, which rarely
exceeded two stories in height. The upper part of the windows was glazed
with very bad glass; the lower part consisted of close lattice-work,
through the small apertures of which, as we traversed the streets, we had
now and then opportunities of noticing the features of the women, whom
the custom of the country had confined within doors to the lattice, and
in the street to the _roba zilia_, or veil. There were but f