EELIGION— CEMETEKIES. 19 



There are eighteen churches in Caracas and three con- 

 vents ; the last are merely tolerated, as no monastic in- 

 stitutiong are permitted by law in Yeneziiela. Here, as in 

 every Roman Catholic country, the Sabbath is but little 

 regarded. The services in the churches, the same as those 

 for the other days of the week, continue for one hour, 

 from five to six o'clock in the morning, when the religious 

 exercises of the day are over. All places of amusement 

 and public resort are then opened and thronged as they 

 are at no other time. The card and billiard tables are fre- 

 quented, but the cock-fights and bull-fights call together 

 the greatest crowds. Sabbath afternoons are especially 

 consecrated to the latter amusement. The cock-fight 

 partakes more of a domestic character, and there is scarce- 

 ly a family that has not its cockpit. All day long the 

 shops are opened for trafiic, mules and donkeys laden 

 with merchandise wend their way through the streets, 

 soldiers parade the city, and, to destroy still more if pos- 

 sible the quietness and sanctity of the Sabbath, the bells 

 are in an eternal jingle. In the evening the theatre 

 aiFords the closing entertainment of the day. 



Caracas has six Catholic cemeteries, the largest, which 

 is said to be the finest in South America, is north of the 

 city, upon the slope at the base of Cerro de Avila. It is 

 enclosed by a high wall, on the inside of which are niches, 

 or receptacles for the dead. Upon the payment of a cer- 

 tain sum, cofiins are allowed to be placed within, where they 

 may remain three years. At the expiration of that time 

 they are taken, if not removed before by friends, and the 

 bones cast in the camera^ or common sepulchre. Those 

 who do not desii'e, or cannot afford for their deceased rela- 

 tives, these funereal niches, bury at once within the en- 

 closure of the cemetery. There are also two Protestant 

 burial-grounds, German and English, situated south of 

 the city. 



