upon them large placards with various pictures, letters, and hieroglyphics, all appropriate to the occasion.  Next came a very prominent collegian carrying a staff.  Upon it was a placard with the oath (which they took the following day) always to defend the immaculate conception of the most holy Virgin.  Finally came a very beautiful triumphal chariot drawn by two savages, and decorated with many arches of flowers and gilded figures of angels.  In the midst of these and among a great number of lights went, enthroned, a beautiful carved figure of our Lady of the Conception.  Before the chariot was a band of clarion-players.  They followed eight children dressed in silk garments and carrying silver candles.  They represented angels with candles in their hands, singing and reciting in praise of the Virgin.  After the chariot came Original Sin, tied with a chain, and so well made up for his part that he became a mark for the blows and pinches of the people.  Next day there was another very magnificent fiesta, in which a dance was given by more than sixty Japanese, who danced and sang to the accompaniment of various instruments, according to their custom.

After this, on Sunday, the Order of St. Francis began their eight-day fiesta.  Another was held at the port of Cavite, in which, as in Manila, all the orders took part—­except one, which during all this time did not leave its house, enter the cathedral, nor display illuminations.  About this there was no lack of gossiping in the city.

The effects of last year’s comets have been very frightful this year, especially in two provinces of the Filipinas, Ilocos and Cagayan—­the former of which is entirely under the instruction of the fathers of St. Augustine.  The earthquakes in Ilocos have been so violent and so continuous that the people have gone about with severe headaches, as if seasick.  At noon on St. Andrew’s day, in the village of Batano, the church, the house, and the granary (a very substantial one) fell because of the vibrations.  The friars cast themselves from the windows and thus escaped with their lives, although they were badly injured.  In Dinglas a large portion of the church fell, and the prior of the convent leaped through a window.  In Sinai the church was overturned Great cracks have opened up in the ground in which men fall, but only one has lost his life in this way.  In the mountains of Bigan two distant ranges came together and caught between them two heathen villages.  All the people were buried, only one man escaping.  In the province of Cagayan, which is included within the island of Manila and which is under the instruction of the fathers of St. Dominic, the earthquakes were even more horrible.  On the same day, that of St. Andrew, it seemed that the prophecy of the Evangel had come true.  On the following day, which was the day of Judgment, the earth tossed the people with such violence that men were not able to keep their seats; and they walked about as dizzy and as dazed as if they were intoxicated.