SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO 



145 



mix indiscriminately in their prayers to that 

 Being to whom all earthly distinctions are un- 

 known. In South America, persons of pro- 

 perty are (or were till lately) always preceded 

 to church by slaves, carrying handsome 

 cushions for their masters, but this is a 

 luxury and pompous display of vanity un- 

 known in Mexico. The newly-arrived Eu- 

 ropean is shocked at the idea of kneeling 

 on the boards which form the floors of the 

 churches, and which are left loose in order to 

 receive the bodies of the dead, for this is the 

 place of burial : it is not customary to erect 

 monuments to the deceased, nor is even the 

 name inscribed to point out to surviving rela- 

 tives or friends the spot of interment. In no 

 part of New Spain did I observe any memorial 

 of the dead, except in the chapel which con- 

 tains the bones of the conqueror Cortez ; there, 

 a fine bronze bust, cast by Tolso, is placed 

 near to them. Funerals are performed here 



VOL. I. L 



