To this place the thousands go annually upon pilgrimages.  One of the most gruesome spectacles to be found anywhere is in a side room near the altar.  From the ceiling are suspended wax and plaster of paris reproductions called ex-votos of literally every portion of the body—­feet, hands, limbs, heads, all portions—­the ceiling space is completely covered with these uncanny figures.  The wall is hung with pictures, which portray all sorts of scenes, such as a man in shipwreck, a carpenter falling down a ladder, a child falling out of a second-story window, death chambers of various people, etc.  These figures and pictures are intended to represent miracles.  When these people were in their afflictions they prayed to the image of the Good End and made a promise that if they should recover they would bring one of these votive offerings of the part affected, whether of man or beast, to the shrine.  Some of them came before the cure was effected, and with a prayer, left the image behind and the cures of their disease or afflictions were attributed to the image of Bom Fim.  It is said that when this church is given its annual cleaning, just before the celebration of the saint’s day, thousands of people congregate here, roll in the waters which are used to wash out the building, and drink the filthy stuff, deeming it to be holy.  There is hardly a more revolting scene to be found anywhere, and all in the name of religion.  Until recently, when the police put an end to it, a most disgusting species of holy dance was observed on this annual day in which the most sensual practices were indulged.

Perhaps the most famous shrine in all Brazil is in the far interior of the State of Bahia on the San Francisco River.  It is the famous Lapa.  The image has its shrine in a cave in a very remarkable geological formation.  One hundred thousand people make pilgrimages to this shrine every year from all of the States in Brazil.  The last Emperor himself made a visit to this shrine.  From June to August of last year $20,000 was collected from the pilgrims.  Our missionary, Jackson, met a man who had been on the way six months.  It required him a year to make this trip.  The same missionary saw a family from the State of Alagoas which had been on the journey six weeks.  Dr. Z. C. Taylor says he passed through sections that had been almost depopulated because the men had sold out their homes, horses and cattle in order to seek a miracle in their favor at this same shrine.  Fire destroyed the image in 1902.  Protestants were accused of setting fire to it because a missionary was near at the time. (He was forty miles away.) In the controversy that arose the missionary noted that, inasmuch as the new image was sent by freight and not by ticket, it must be an idol and not a saint.  Suffice it to say, that a new image was placed and the people are worshiping it with the same zeal with which they worshiped the old, even though the new one came by freight and the old one was supposed to have fallen from Heaven.  It is believed to have miracle working power and to give great merit to one who makes the pilgrimage to it.