pamphlet.
Its title was _L'Arca Noetica_. _Simbolo Mariano_. _Processione
notturna figurativa_ (_I Personaggi_) _in omaggio alla Diva di Custonaci
Celeste Patrone degli Erecini_. _Ultimo Lunedi d'Agosto_, 1901. It was
to be a procession of cars, there were to be no figures on horseback.
Having introduced cars, as in _Jael_, to give special importance to the
three points of the story, viz. the opening, the climax, and the
conclusion (or, as the pamphlet expressed it, Causa, Consequenza e
Termine), it was, no doubt, felt that more could be done with them than
with single figures on horseback in presenting the somewhat intractable
subject of _Noah's Ark and the Universal Deluge_.

The preparations had taken a month or six weeks. The course is for the
arciprete of the Matrice, who is the head of the clergy of the district,
to determine what the story shall be and how it is to be told. The
designing of each personaggio, or of each group of personaggi, is then
confided to one of the inhabitants, who, provided he bears in mind the
general scheme, is free to follow his natural artistic instincts. The
dresses are hired from Palermo, and an astonishing quantity of jewellery
is lent by the families of the comune; in 1897 the personaggi carried 85
lbs. weight of it, and far more is always lent than can possibly be used.
It is all gold and precious stones, no silver is to be seen, and nothing
is ever lost, stolen, or mislaid; even the thieves become honest on these
occasions. It is sewn on to the dresses in various designs and makes
them look very rich, so that what is hired from Palermo is only the
costumes in the rough, so to speak.

In wandering about the town next day, I came upon four or five of the
cars lurking in obscure churches where they had been prepared. It was
not easy to make much of them; there were a few rocks, banks and clouds,
also the waters of the deluge, all made of papier mache painted to appear
real, and in among the rocks and banks were real plants, mostly the dwarf
palm which grows plentifully on the mountain. There were wooden supports
for the figures, to help them to stand in their places. Each car carried
under it an apparatus to supply it with acetylene gas, used in 1901 for
the first time.

All day long people kept on coming up the mountain and pouring into the
town. Those who did not come on foot left their carts and horses
outside, and they all swarmed up through the narrow, irregular,