cept that of
the new pope. In front of each throne and under each canopy there is a
little table covered with silk--green in the case of all those cardinals
who have been created previously to the pontificate of the pope recently
deceased, and purple in the case of those created by him. The colors of
the canopies are similar. On each table are printed registers prepared
for registering the votes at each scrutiny, the schedules for giving the
votes, the means for sealing, etc. On the front of each table is
inscribed the name of the cardinal who is to occupy it, together with
his armorial bearings. In the midst of the body of the chapel are six
little tables covered with green cloth, with a seat at each of them for
the use of any cardinal who may fear that his neighbor might overlook
him while writing his voting paper if he wrote it on the table before
his throne. In front of the altar there is a large table covered with
crimson silk, on which are folded schedules, wafers, sealing-wax; four
candles, not lighted, but ready for use; a tinder-box with steel and
matches; scarlet and purple twine for filing the voting schedules; a box
of needles for the same purpose; a tablet with seventy holes in it,
answering to the number of cardinals if the college were full, and in
each hole a little wooden counter with the name of a cardinal, so that
there are as many counters as cardinals in the college; and finally, a
copy of the form of oath respecting the putting the schedules into the
urns, the two urns themselves, and a box with a key, used for receiving
the voting papers of such cardinals as may be too ill to leave their
cells. The two urns, however, at the time of the scrutiny are placed on
the altar. Behind the altar there is placed a little iron brazier or
stove, in which, after every scrutiny which does not succeed in electing
a pope, the voting papers are burned, together with some damp straw, the
object being to cause a dense smoke, which, passing by a pipe outside
the building, serves to inform the Romans that no election has yet been
made. Twice a day, at about the same hour every day till the election is
achieved, this smoke, which is eagerly watched for by all Rome, and
specially by the commandant of the Castle of St. Angleo, who is waiting
to fire a salute for the new pope, tells the city that there is no pope
yet. When the hour passes and no smoke is seen, it is known that the
election is made, and the cannoneers fire aw