Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/184

---

First came a band of native musicians, making horrible discord with tomtoms, (Hindu drums) pipes, and other instruments; next a wooden figure, two feet in height, with wings, borne on mens' shoulders,—this represented an angel, and was preceded and accompanied by flaming Roman candles;—next came a canopy glittering with tinsel, glass, and gilding containing a male image of the same size, (the common size of the idols borne about in their processions by the heathen of India, but this was not Krishna or Ganesha—it was St. Peter. This canopy, which was also borne on mens' shoulders, was modelled precisely after those on which the idols of India are paraded by the Hindus. Next came the great centre of attraction, a pyramidal structure with a female image, adorned, according to Hindu ideas, with great splendour: this was Mary, the mother of Christ. Two men with fans attended, one on either side, waving their fans to cool the idol, as it advanced amid the glitter, hiss, and flash of fireworks; and immediately after it walked a European priest, chanting prayers to the saints. With him followed a choir of young men with violins, and boys singing over and over again, “Ora pro nobis,” (pray for us,) adding each time the name