372 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



him, but he said that they always did so with those 

 buried inside the church ; that the earth must be all put 

 back, and the floor of the church made even. My re- 

 monstrances seemed only to give him more strength and 

 spirit. The sweat rolled down his body, and when 

 perfectly tired with pounding he stepped out of the 

 grave. But this was nothing. More earth was thrown 

 in, and the father laid down his hat, stepped into the 

 grave, and the pounder was handed to him. I saw 

 him throw it up twice and bring it down with a dead, 

 heavy noise. I never beheld a more brutal and dis- 

 gusting scene. The child's body must have been 

 crushed to atoms. 



Toward evening the moschetoes began their opera- 

 tions. Pawling and Juan planted sticks in the ground 

 outside the convent, and spread sheets over them for 

 nets ; but the rain came on and drove them within, and 

 we passed another wretched night. It may be asked 

 how the inhabitants live. I cannot answer. They 

 seemed to suffer as much as we, but at home they 

 could have conveniences which we could not carry in 

 travelling. Pawling suffered so much, and heard such 

 dreadful accounts of what we would meet with below, 

 that, in a spirit of impetuosity and irritation, he resolved 

 not to continue any farther. From the difficulty and 

 uncertainty of communications, however, I strongly ap- 

 prehended that in such case all the schemes in which 

 he was concerned must fall through and be abandoned, 

 as I was not willing to incur the expense of sending 

 materials, subject to delays and uncertainties, unless in 

 special charge, and once more he changed his purpose. 



I had but one leave-taking, and that was a trying 

 one. I was to bid farewell to my noble macho. He 

 had carried me more than two thousand miles, over the 



