the top of a hill which commands the town.

It is supplied with water from the neighbouring hills, by an aqueduct,
which is raised upon two stories of arches, and is said at some places
to be at a great height from the ground, from which the water is
conveyed by pipes into a fountain in the great square that exactly
fronts the viceroy's palace. At this fountain great numbers of people
are continually waiting for their turn to draw water; and the soldiers,
who are posted at the governor's door, find it very difficult to
maintain any regularity among them. The water at this fountain however
is so bad, that we, who had been two months at sea, confined to that in
our casks, which was almost always foul, could not drink it with
pleasure. Water of a better quality is led into some other part of the
town, but I could not learn by what means.

The churches are very fine, and there is more religions parade in this
place than in any of the popish countries in Europe; there is a
procession of some parish every day, with various insignia, all splendid
and costly in the highest degree: They beg money, and say prayers in
great form, at the corner of every street.

While we lay here, one of the churches was rebuilding; and to defray the
expence, the parish to which it belonged had leave to beg in procession
through the whole city once it week, by which very considerable sums
were collected. At this ceremony, which was performed by night, all the
boys of a certain age were obliged to assist, the sons of gentlemen not
being excused. Each of these boys was dressed in a black cassock, with a
short red cloak, hanging about as low as the waist, and carried in his
hand a pole about six or seven feet long, at the end of which was tied a
lantern: the number of lanterns was generally above two hundred, and the
light they gave was so great, that the people who saw it from the cabin
windows thought the town had been on fire.

The inhabitants, however, may pay their devotions at the shrine of any
saint in the calendar, without waiting till there is a procession; for
before almost every house there is a little cupboard, furnished with a
glass window, in which one of these tutelary powers is waiting to be
gracious; and to prevent his being out of mind, by being out of sight, a
lamp is kept constantly burning before the window of his tabernacle in
the night. The people indeed are by no means remiss in their devotions,
for before these saints they