SANTIAGO. 221 



diately adjoining the garden there are lots for the several religious orders; and at the rear !' 

 the encloMire tin r i>> "lie (mil lor anatomical purposes, and another used as a temporary deposit. 

 Owinjj to tin- .scarcity of other suitable material, and of proper workmen, the greater portion 

 ol the graves are covered with slabs of red porphyry, found on San Cristoval; though there are 

 many mausoleums of fine marble, both of costly e\.. ution and in good taste. One of the latter 

 i> surmounted by a nude figure of Grief executed in white marble, which, by order of the arch- 

 liishoji, ban actually been covered with a petticoat of black cloth from the waist to the knees! 



I'.uf there is a portion most painful to the sight the space allotted to the unfortunate poor, 

 whose remains are not unfrequently disinterred before entire decomposition, and cover its sur- 

 face in every direction a perfect Golgotha. In one hole, not four feet deep, lay the bodies of 

 lour coffinless children, side by side. Innocent creatures they were, and fair to look upon even 

 in death. More care had been bestowed on their adornment for this temporary (I was about to 

 say JinaT) resting-place than had ever been given in life perhaps ; but it made me heart-sick 

 to see their upturned faces and little crossed hands exposed, amid skulls and bones of every age, 

 to the broad glare of sunlight, whilst awaiting the arrival of others to occupy a part of their 

 horrid tenement. There is a place still more shocking at another part of the enclosure a deep 

 pit into which the bodies of paupers are tossed, with quicklime, and left to decay. But it was quite 

 sufficient to have it pointed out to me there was no inclination to go nearer to it. No good 

 excuse can be offered for this. The money received from the rich and middle classes, under the 

 most moderate calculations, must pay for the land over and over again ; and there are hundreds 

 of acres on Cerro Blanco and San Cristoval, utterly unfit for cultivation, that would well serve 

 as grave-yards for the poor. 



According to the returns, 3, 56*7 persons died in 1849, 3,187 in 1850, and 3,444 in 1851 ; or 

 a mean of 3,400 per year. If only one third of them pay for sepulture at the lowest rate, 

 during a single year it amounts to no less than $3,400, or $212.50 per acre ; which is nearly if 

 not quite the market value of tbe land. 



The tariff established is: For a perpetual sepulchre, 7 feet long and 34 inches wide, $20. 

 In this it is permitted to inter relatives to the fourth generation. For the privilege of erecting 

 a mausoleum on the same site, $30 additional. For the privilege of removing a body to be placed 

 in a private chapel or a church, when authority has been obtained to do so, $30. For the inter- 

 ment of a single body during one year, $3. For the conveyance of a corpse from the city, in a 

 carriage of the first class, $12; second class, $8; third class, $3 ; fourth class, $1. The last is 

 only the common ox-cart of the country. For interring a child (in the family vault) brought 

 in a private carriage, $3. Tbe poor, brought in the fourth-class carriages, pay nothing for 

 sepulture. 



Of course not, poor creatures ; they speedily find their way down the pit. Now here is a 

 monopoly of the very worst kind. All believe that their salvation depends on interment in 

 this the only consecrated ground, and a corpse cannot even be conveyed to it for less than the 

 profits of a whole month's labor. 



